The Coming of the Exiled
by PiquantDino
Summary: A few months had went by since their journey to the dark wold. The end of the school year met the two of them before they knew it. It hurt Kris to let go of someone else, to watch them walk away, but Susie left every summer to visit her mother. Unbeknownst, an inter-dimensional problem and a new friend will bring the two back together, along with the demise of the world they knew.
1. Leaving Hometown

Susie forced her way through the crowded halls, stuffing her hands into her worn out jacket's pockets, both of which had holes in it preventing her from storing any valuable items. Most of the students were getting their bags from their lockers for the end of the day, something she didn't have to do so she could escape school without being stuck in a crowd of the younger kids. They begged and pleaded to go home to get their after school snack and play an hour of video games. All of that got to her every now and then.

Not bringing stuff to school was an easy way out of having to deal with that shit, not that there weren't other reasons she didn't bring anything to school, but that wasn't something to share. Not even with Kris who struggled to keep up with her from behind. He didn't bring many things with him either, specifically because he didn't care. Not that she was one to care either, that was for certain. That's what she would like to think anyway.

But none of that mattered because both of them wouldn't have to deal with school for 11 weeks.

"Slow down, will you?" Kris muttered between breaths, barely audible as per usual.

"Speak up, will you?" She mocked, but obliged to her friend despite the sarcasm, slowing down to meet his pace. The kid was a mess, he was heaving heavily and sweat was dripping down his face like some salty, leaking water faucet. Pretty pathetic. "Dude, the hell you wearing a sweater for in this heat?"

He looked up at her, still panting. By the way his mouth tightened, Susie could tell he was probably squinting with some sort of 'fake' anger behind his bangs. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Well, I ain't a wimp like _some_ people around here."

"I am not a wimp." He paused, looking down at his sweater. He decided to wipe away some of the hair stuck to his sweat covered forehead as he did so. "It just reminds me of my brother," he pulled at the ends of his sweater "He wore this sweater all throughout highschool-"

Susie snarled in disgust "That exact sweater?"

"No, you know my mom makes matching ones." he laughed slightly. Susie didn't want to admit it, but hearing him laugh lifted her spirits every time. Just a little. He didn't laugh often. "He wore it even in the summers. I guess having fur helps with heat or something? Didn't seem to bother him. But it bothers me and I _still _wear it so, counterpoint, I guess that makes me-"

"Don't call yourself a badass."

"A _badass." _

She sped up immediately after that comment; she figured that there was no way he was going to say otherwise. After being friends with someone for a few months you start to be able to predict them very well. Or maybe it was just Kris.

A sense of pride flourished in her when she heard Kris huff from behind before hearing scattered steps trying to catch up. She walked at a steady stride and he sped walked beside her as if he was an old lady working out at the mall on a quiet Tuesday morning.

The majority of the rest of the walk was silent. The majority of their friendship was silence and that's what Susie appreciated about Kris. Being around someone who didn't judge, or cared enough to judge, was comforting to say the least. And there was no rush to fill the awkward still air because it wasn't awkward at all. Not to them.

She assumed Kris felt the same way about her. Being human, people tended to gawk at him. From what Susie observed, it seemed people talked down to him or were way too nice out of pity. It reminded her of how people treat those who are shy, something she experienced when she was younger before she decided to grow a pair.

Kris happened to also be the quiet type as well which didn't help his case.

However, she didn't give a shit about what Kris was or how much he spoke. And if he valued that then that's a win for the both of them.

But as they neared the street of Kris' home, he spoke up. "I'm going to miss you, you know?" His tone was somber, something Susie wasn't used to.

"Don't get all sappy with me, it's only for the summer."

He shrugged. "Maybe so, but it still sucks. Not having you in the Dark World is going to be weird." Susie winced "Plus I wanted to introduce you to Asriel. He's ecstatic about me making a friend instead of pranking Noelle on my free time."

"Just tell Lancer I said hi, 'kay? And I'll call you a few times a week, yadda yadda yadda. No big deal." It was a big deal. Susie _really _didn't want to leave town, even if it was a stupid town. For one, leaving the Dark World behind and Kris sucked _ass. _And second to that, she hated her mom more than her dad. But this was the routine. It happened every single summer and there was no escaping. So says the law. Say hi to mom and kiss everything else goodbye. Not that there was much.

Kris ignored her comment and simply held out two crumpled pieces of paper from his pocket, one folded nicely and the other crudely, but being shoved into a back pocket showed mercy to neither one.

She raised an eyebrow. "And those are supposed to be...?"

"Cards." He stated plainly. "Me and Noelle- actually it was mainly Noelle's idea. But we each wrote a letter for you to read when you're lonely being away and stuff."

"Lonely? Please." She took the letters from him. It made sense he would write one being the loser he was, but Noelle? Susie barely talked to her at all. But she was one to be overly nice to everybody. Shrugging it off, Susie shoved both into her back pocket, not trusting they would stay safe in her jacket. "Nice gesture but I'm a tough gal."

"Yeah, I know, but everybody loves letters, right?"

"Eh." She gave him a playful nudge. "But I appreciate it anyway, punk."

She anticipated that he was going to smile back, but instead he formed a frown and looked away, down the road. "Whelp, this is my street."

"...oh." That came out a bit more somber than she intended, but it stung. She didn't think it was going to be this hard to say goodbye. It was going to be only for the summer, and summers pass by fast, everyone knows that. "I told you to not be all sad about it. I'll call you as soon as I get the chance. So lighten up, your frown annoys the hell out of me." She chuckled, trying to push the discomfort away.

It didn't seem to work, Kris' smile seemed forced. "Y-yeah." there was no warning before Susie felt his arms wrap around her. "Goodbye Susie."

Susie's throat tightened. Hugs weren't her thing. It reminded her of things she didn't want to be reminded of. She laughed, trying to cover up her discomfort that was clearly emanating from her. "It's not _goodbye_, it's 'see ya later'. Ya know, like they say in movies." She patted his head in a hopeful attempt to get him off of her. It seemed to work, as he gave her one last squeeze before releasing her.

He wiped his eyes with one of his sleeves. To the average person it wouldn't be noticed he was trembling, but to Susie it was.

_Oh fuck, he's crying? _She thought.

"Y-yeah, you're right." He did another one of his pained smiles. "See ya later." Turning on his heel, he headed down the street evidently trying to not look back.

"See ya later." Susie didn't like to be sensitive, but seeing Kris hurt in turn hurt her. It'd be alright, only 11 weeks. He managed to get by alone for the first half of the year without her, and now he had Asriel to take her place for the summer. But something about 'see ya later' didn't seem right.

Susie washed away that stupid thought, it wasn't like some poorly acted drama film where they would get seperated due to some tragedy and never see eachother again. Life wasn't that predictable. It was just plain boring.

She took the atmosphere of the small town around her in. It may have been brutally hot, but Susie liked it. The green grass, the flowers, pools, fireflies. She headed home thinking about all those things, knowing it would be the only good things about this summer.

* * *

_Ugh, great. It's locked. _

Her dad must've forgotten to leave the door open for her. Most likely because he was in a rush to leave for work this morning after waking up from his usual hangover. He worked at some run down gas station at the outskirts of town, hence why affording to make a copy of the key was a bit hard.

Susie wouldn't trust herself with one anyway.

Whatever. She rounded the house, making sure to keep an eye out for any broken glass or syringes that were hidden in the grass. They really needed a good mowing. Susie gave a glance toward her old bike she would ride as a child, it sat on the side of the home next to the air conditioning unit; rotting away like everything else. The colors were dimmed and dejected.

She had no idea why her dad hadn't thrown it away along with everything else her mother had bought for her as a kid. Maybe that one specific thing was nostalgic for him? She remembered riding it around the lake when her parents were still together. When things were "better", which was predictable like Kris was. She proceeded to walk past the old bike toward her room window that she always left open for this exact situation. She had learned the hard way.

"Yo, dad!" Opening the window, she decided to call through just in case he may have been still home, passed out on the couch or something. There was no answer. Good. She pushed herself up, her threadbare boot landing on the ledge for support, allowing her to jump to the other side onto the stained carpet. Stained from what? She didn't know, it was like that when they moved in.

Considering they were in a poor part of town, she didn't want to think what may have stained it years ago. Probably something nasty.

Her room was an ugly eggshell color, some parts of the wall left unpainted. Everything was bare, excluding the dirty laundry. It reminded her of Kris' side of the room when they did homework together that one time. Emphasis on one. His mom did make a mean pie so actually working was freaking worth it.

Shoving random wrinkled clothes into her unused backpack, she thought about the food on the train. Some years they had quality tomato soup. It was a 7 hour ride so it had to be _somewhat _classy.

Susie bent down to grab the train ticket she left under her bed the other day. She made sure to keep it in a safe spot after printing it out in the library so she wouldn't have to go back there. Berdly was such an ass, even if he avoided eye contact with her. She hadn't punched him in awhile. She made a mental note to do that at the beginning of next year.

"Susie? Didn't hear ya come in."

Susie's head shot up to meet her dad's hard gaze. He had stopped in his tracks before passing her room, a whole bottle of vodka in hand.

"Thought you weren't home." She pretended to continue packing to avoid having to continue looking at him. "I called your name when I came in." Hopefully he would just go away.

"I just woke up."

He must've skipped work again. It was a miracle he wasn't fired yet. "Are you going to drive me to the train station in an hour or what?"

He rubbed his temple. "I thought you were getting a ride."

"Whatever. I'll just get a taxi." She shoved past him making sure to sneak some money from his wallet on the kitchen counter before leaving the home.

He didn't even bother to say goodbye. Neither did she.

* * *

Her nose wrinkled in discomfort. Maybe it was just Amina, but sometimes sunlight seemed to tickle her nose a little too much for her liking. When her eyes fluttered open she immediately shielded her face with her hand. The curtains were opened just enough to hit her face directly and nothing else. What time was it? By the way it looked, definitely not past 7 am.

Even on the weekend Amina's body wasn't willing to let her sleep in. There was no way she was going to be able to fall back asleep. Fantastic. Her body wasn't very fond of her sleeping schedule lately and she could feel it.

She felt underneath her pillow where she kept her phone at night with no luck. It better not have fallen underneath the bed again. Beginning to explore the sheets for it, she sat up hoping her fingers would wrap around it at any moment.

Maybe it was best to worry about it after breakfast. Amina wasn't in the mood right now. Aching, she stretched out with a yawn before looking around..._the _room? Not _her_ room.

_What the hell? _

Amina observed her surroundings in a bit of panic. The walls were a pale orange and a neatly (probably knit) round carpet was in the middle of the smallish room on the wooden floor. If she was kidnapped, the person who kidnapped her had motherly taste. Or perhaps a grandma. There was a nice bouquet of flowers on the dresser next to a picture frame of a cute golden retriever. So the _supposed _kidnapper was a puppy person?

_Okay, this isn't my home. Obviously, how much of a dunce am I? Baka. No, STOP being a weeb. That phase was 3 years ago. Calm down. What's the last thing I remember?_

In a horrifying realization, Amina recognized her memories were a bit fuzzy. Not that she couldn't remember anything, just that everything was a static type blur. Her family had bodies but no faces and the room she fell asleep in was blue, her faceless father tucking her into bed. A blue wall was the only thing she could discern clearly.

Certainly not orange.

Uh, why did any of that matter? It didn't. She just needed to get her shit together and focus on getting out of here. Maybe she didn't remember much because she was insane or something? God, she wished that was not the case. She had never woken up so confused which meant something had to be wrong.

She took great precautions getting out of bed, the springs were much louder than she would've preferred considering she was trying to be discreet. Must've been an old bed. Or just plain cheap. Not to mention her whole body was itchy. She was wearing plaid wool pajamas. She would never wear wool, the fabric was way too annoying.

Sliding around the carpet with her socks on, she made a b-line for the door. It was cracked open just a bit, not enough for her to have noticed at first, but it meant that she wasn't locked in thankfully.

But the relief only lasted a split second. When she opened the door the hall outside was pitch black, excluding a nightlight in to her right. No windows. It was probably a better idea to just jump out her own but it appeared she was on the second floor and she would rather risk walking through a darkened hallway than breaking a leg. Whether it was a good choice or not, she was sticking with it.

"Amina?"

The lights turned on and her stomach sank. She didn't dare turn around. The voice was feminine and caring, but not familiar.

"What are you doing up so early?" The voice laughed, amused and proud sounding was the only way to describe it. "I thought your brother was the early bird, not you."

Amina did not have a brother.

_Okay. New plan. This woman is insane and probably kidnapped me to play family. Like that one movie. What was that movie called?_

_Focus. Just play along and make an escape attempt when possible. She doesn't seem aggressive. Yet._

"I- I uh…" her voice came out weak with a bit of a shake to it. She could only wish the woman hadn't noticed. If her memories weren't playing tricks on her than her father had always told her not to show fear or weakness to those you fear yourself. She took a deep breath to gather herself. "I got hungry. Heh heh." her nervous laugh was stupid. "Can't sleep with hunger pains, right?"

"Hungry for breakfast? That's a first. How about I make you some eggs?"

False. Amina was always hungry for breakfast. "That'd be great."

A large hand planted on her shoulder, startling Amina so much she finally looked up to meet her kidnapper's eyes. "Are you alright?"

Never had Amina tried to hold back a scream so much in her life. The woman that stood before her was not human. She was a monstrosity of a being. Her mind immediately went to a walking talking alligator. A huge and wide one with claws that gently grazed her shoulder. Her smile held sharp pearly whites, so sharp that Amina would not be surprised if she filed them every morning after brushing her teeth. Her sharp pupils were somehow warm as they looked down at her with a bit of concern, some of her red locks falling in front of her eyes, but not much. The majority of her hair was pulled back in a messy bun.

She was a redhead. Like Amina.

"Oh, something is wrong. Are you not feeling well?" The gator woman felt Amina's forehead. It was hard but she held back from flinching.

"N-no. I just had a bit of a nightmare. I'm still waking up."

"If you say so. Now please go and wake your brother up for breakfast. I don't want him substituting a meal with cookies again."

"Sure." That added stress. She was going to have to search for his room without coming across as weird because clearly this- this _monster _assumed she knew exactly what was going on. "But do you mind if I go ahead and use the restroom first?"

The monster gave her a weird look. "Um… hm. You don't need my permission to use the restroom, dear."

This was not going well. She was probably coming across as crazy which may have been true. She was talking to a huge alligator after all.

"Haha, just messing with you." She shot out finger guns in an attempt to lighten the mood. She couldn't show fear. Plus finger guns was something she did often so if this monster indeed "knew" her than it would appear as normal.

"Haha indeed." The monster was very much confused but turned to head downstairs anyway after giving Amina another warm smile.

The restroom was directly across from her room, it was left open, giving her a quick escape. She slammed the door shut, locking it from behind. Her chest heaved up and down heavily, her heart racing. This had to be a dream. She wasn't crazy. Everything was all too real.

She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked the same. She was still human. Her long red hair was a mess and her brown eyes were wide with fear. She averted her eyes away from the mirror, she looked so scared she was beginning to scare herself even more.

Next to the mirror was a picture frame. She picked it up to examine it. Mainly to get a sense of what was going on. In the photo was that gator woman and that dog from before. The golden retriever. But it was standing on two legs and wearing clothes…

Was that her brother?

And the smallest one, between the two, stood a younger version of herself.

She hadn't been kidnapped, had she?


	2. Dipping Bacon in Syrup

Susie folded her arms slowly over the folded out tray table in front of her, proceeding to rest her head on the back of her seat hoping the horrible ringing sound resonating in her skull would dismiss itself.

Trains weren't really Susie's thing, in fact, she hated the hell out of them more than anything. The stupid horn, the bumpy tracks, the awkward silence, save for the few crying children. But the worst thing was the crowded seats that didn't allow for Susie to stretch out her legs. Most larger monsters would ride in first class but Susie didn't have that money to spend.

Maybe she could see a doctor and get some sort of handicap pass that allowed her to sit in first class all the time for being tall. Being tall can be a disability, right?

Nah. Susie couldn't afford a doctor either.

"Ma'am, can I get you something to drink?" The train attendant asked. Susie wasn't sure if that was their official title or not.

"Yeah, I'll have a whiskey."

The bear monster eyed Susie's kid pass. She was forced to wear it around her neck so the attendants would keep an eye on her for being "underage". Aka make sure her large self wasn't kidnapped or something.

"I'm sorry, I can't do that."

Susie would have taken the pass off beforehand but the lady had to check her kiddy pass before she got on the train, so it was pointless. Another reason Susie hated trains. She grunted, knowing she could pass off as 21 otherwise. "Fine. Just give me a damn Pepsi."

The lady nodded, pouring the drink into a cheap and much too small for Susie's taste cup. She could see the kid beside her eye her, probably for the language, before asking for apple juice.

Before the attendant walked away, Susie made a point to poke her a little too hard with her nail, still a little pissed off by the whiskey. "When are we getting snacks?"

"Not for another hour." She quickly began asking other monsters what they would like to drink as to avoid Susie bothering her more. It was pretty obvious from her cowardly demeanor that she was a bit put off.

Another hour? Really? Laying a hand over her stomach, Susie could already feel the hunger pains getting worse. This train was bullshit. A 7 hour ride should have 3 meals at least. Or more.

Where was the tomato soup at for Pete's sake?

"So, why are you going to Seameet?" The kid asked. Great, he was a chatty one.

Seemeet was the name of the town they were traveling to and every time Susie heard it outloud she cringed. It was such a stupid name and the nearest beach was 2 hours away. Not a sea town at all.

Susie made a point to scowl as she turned to the kid, but his beaming alligator-like smile did not falter. He seemed about 11 or 12… and he looked very very annoying with his discernable and stupid dimples.

"None of your damn business."

The swear caused a bit of a frown for just a moment before he shook it off. "That's not a nice word."

"Well, I'm not a nice person so stop talking to me."

Unfortunately, his reasonable side was dispersed as he continued talking to her despite the warning. "I'm visiting my Aunt Polly! It's nice to have a break from listening to my parents argue all the time. I'm pretty sure I annoy them but whatever. They can send me away all they want because it's so fun at my Aunt's house with my cousins. Except when we have to go to church. I hate that."

What was with kids and oversharing unimportant information? "That's nice kid, but guess what? I don't give a shit."

"Kid?" He pointed to her pass. "You have a kid pass so aren't you a kid?"

"No, I'm not."

"Pft. You're only like 15 or 16 aren't you? Stop acting like you're not."

"Will you shut up? I'm this close," Susie pinched her fingers together "to beating your face in. Whether you're 11 or not."

"I'm 12."

"Whatever!" Susie took a moment to assess the fact she was actually arguing with a 12 year old. Her life was going downhill for sure. "If I tell you why I'm going to Seameet will you shut up?"

He looked up at the ceiling as if he was looking at his brain to think. It was kind of stupid how people did that in general. He nodded his head, looking back at her while he shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"I'm visiting my mom. There. So you can shut up now."

"Nah, I lied to you. I'm not going to be bossed around by you just because you look scary. I know you won't punch me."

The kid was right. Susie may have considered herself a bully who took shit from no one, but she did have standards and beating up a 12 year old was definitely not something she would do, regretfully. Too bad he figured it out. Usually kids were too stupid to think about it and would just cry and run away to their parents.

"What's your name?"

She groaned and decided it was best to just answer him until the conversation ended. This was a late train ride so he was bound to get tired at some point. It was 1 AM at the moment...most likely. Susie didn't have anything to check the time.

"Susie." She muttered.

"Nice name. I'm Elijah." He held out his hand. He frowned when he realized Susie wasn't going to take it and retracted his hand as she looked down at him with disgust. "Um, y'know, my cousins are around your age so maybe you can hang out with us sometime over the summer."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because that means I would have to be around you." Susie took a long sip, finishing the rest of her Pepsi. She crushed the plastic cup as if it would make a point. But it obviously did not with how stubborn and determined Elijah was to become her friend.

Her only friends were Kris and Lancer, exclusively. She didn't need or want to be friends with anybody else. Especially annoying assholes like Elijah here.

"I'm not bad if you get to know me."

Susie let out a deep chuckle, running a hand through her hair in irritation. The pounding in her head was only getting worse. "You're right, you're probably worse."

"Well, you'll see me and my cousins around town sometime this summer so you're welcomed to hang with us. Amina and Watson could use more friends." He covered his mouth before quickly mumbling "Don't tell them I said that."

Susie laughed. "I won't because I want nothing to do with your stupid ass cousins."

Despite the fact that Elijah was stumbling over his words in a pathetic attempt to gather up some sort of comeback, Susie took a moment to adjust herself in her cramped, stained seat. If she was going to avoid punching a 12 year old she had to take precautions to manage her ever growing anger. Settling on grasping her shaking claws on the seat divider she turned back to the kid. He gulped as her eyes dug into him.

Maybe she would be able to get him to back off after all. "If you have something else to say stop wasting my time and spill it."

By the way Elijah was shaking, Susie almost tricked herself into thinking that he was smart enough to take a step back and mind his own business. But when he took a deep breath and held out two pieces of paper, whatever hope that was blooming in Susie's chest flickered away.

"These are yours, aren't they?"

They were. It was the two notes that Kris had given her before she had left that night. A low growl escaped her throat and she scraped the metal divider, leaving uneven marks. "How'd you get those?"

Regardless of Susie's increasing anger, the way Elijah's fearful emotions were mannered stabilized itself. Susie couldn't help but think it was because he knew those notes were a soft spot for her.

"They fell out of your back pocket when you were getting on the train."

"Give them back, you little-"

Elijah held his arm back as Susie tried to climb over him to steal the letters back, but due to the odd angle of the seats, it was close to a lost cause. But Susie was a large girl and kept on trying, knowing it was indeed possible considering how small he was. Laying a hand over his face to push him aside, she reached for the letters, her fingers grazed the tips of the paper. Eljiah, being a quick thinker, shoved them into his back pocket.

**That little shit!**

"I'll give them back to you if you promise to hang out with me and my cousins." He huffed.

This was getting unbelievable. "Why do you want me to hang out with you so badly if I'm scaring the shit out of you?!"

"Because there's never anybody new in town to hang out with! Everybody is old so it's just me and my cousins all the time. Hanging out with a new person would shake things up for once. It's my first summer in Seameet and I plan on making the most of it."

"You're desperate enough to turn to blackmail? That's not the best technique to make new friends, asshole."

"I'll give you the letters back if you hang out with us once. Just once."

"Fine."

No. It wasn't "fine." Susie wasn't going to abide by someone else's rules. Especially a 12 year old's.

She was getting those letters back as soon as she got off this fucking train.

**XxXxXxXxXxXx**

An unfamiliar feeling stirred in Amina's chest as she looked down at the warm breakfast plate in front of her. Two eggs for eyes and bacon for a smiley face. It was the spitting image of what a mother makes for her children in a cartoon.

Though Amina wasn't fool enough to trick herself into thinking this was a normal family with a mother and brother who were actually empathetic and loving like a normal family. The steaming and appetizing breakfast could be poisoned for all she knew.

Her stomach grumbled directly after that thought.

"Amina, why aren't you eating?" Who she assumed was her mother looked up. Recognition quickly flashed in her eyes. "Oh no. I forgot you only like scrambled. Here, I'll fix you another plate." Before the alligator monster was able to grab her plate, Amina raised her hand in protest.

"No! It's fine." A normal excuse would be telling said person that they weren't hungry. But she had already previously mentioned she had woken up from hunger pains, so that plan was out the window. Amina made a personal note to beat herself up for not thinking ahead later. "It's just a bit hot, I'm waiting for it to cool down."

All the chairs were so large to accompany the motherly beast that Amina's legs were dangling over the edge. It felt like she was a small child, even if she was 16. Her brother, who's name she had yet to know, was in the same situation. He was already digging into his breakfast, not even stopping for air. Hopefully this wasn't racist, considering he was the spitting image of a walking talking golden retriever with a red polo shirt, but he ate like a dog. What his personality was like and how close they were as "siblings" was still unknown. Heck, Amina didn't even know his name. After waking him up this morning he simply thanked her before yawning and walking downstairs. Nothing else was said.

It was silly, but the main question buzzing through her mind at the moment was how on earth he managed to sleep in a red polo shirt and khaki pants.

"Why do you keep staring at me like that? You've been weird all morning, I swear."

Amina's mouth suddenly became dry, her tongue feeling like sandpaper. It was easy to forget that these were actually "beings" who could observe her the same as she did to them. A part of her still viewed them as zoo animals who wouldn't speak back only to be shocked every time they did. Perhaps that was racist too, but considering how weird of a situation this was, Amina decided she deserved a pass on that particular aspect.

She turned, beginning to pick at her food, though still weary about it. Her monster family was clearly picking up on her odd behavior. Not good. That meant she had to pick up how she usually behaved...according to them.

The best thing she could hope for was that wherever the hell she was, which seemed more and more like a heavily detailed dream or another universe (?) where everyone knew who she was and had memories of her, is that she acted the same that she usually did back home.

**Wait… how do I usually act? **The yolk of the egg was spilling on the rest of her plate, mixing with the bacon as she thought to herself. The dog was waiting for a response so she had to come up with something believable fairly quickly.

**1) Okay there's a few things I know about myself:**

**2) I had a normal human family and a blue room. **

**3) I used to be a weeb. Emphasis on "used to be". **

**4) I do finger guns in awkward situations, but that didn't blow over well with the gator.**

**5) ...**

**Sugar snap peas! That's it? Really? **

**No. Don't stress over that now. Getting back memories is a future you problem, Amina. Focus on dog boy. **

"Seriously? What's up with you, you're never this quiet."

"Watson, don't be rude. She's probably just tired."

**Okay. His name is Watson. **The now yolk covered bacon was making Amina lose her appetite. **And if I'm never this quiet does that mean I'm extroverted? **That idea did not sit well. She wasn't exactly in the mood for talking much, but she seemingly had a fairly big mouth in the family according to goldy over here.

Siblings pick on eachother, right?

"S'not my fault you eat like a slob." She bit her tongue. If that wasn't the right move she was screwed for sure.

The fork clattered against the plate as Watson made sure to slam it down before he whipped his head toward her. If it was another situation, Amina would have laughed when seeing his ears hit his face before landing back in their usual position.

His expression was a mixture between amused and offended. A combination of which she did not expect.

"Wow, and mom says I'm the immature one." Okay. The lady was their mother. Amina had assumed but still had hidden doubts she could've been an aunt or something. "I'm not the one who dips their bacon in maple syrup!"

Ew. She did that?

"Just chew with your mouth closed, dude. It's nasty."

"You know it's because it's the shape of my jaw! You do this every morning!"

Even if what she said was an insult, he was laughing and his comebacks were clearly an attempt at playful banter. She could gather that A) they had a good relationship and B) they did banter like siblings so she hadn't screwed herself over. Score.

Their mother placed a cup holder beneath her mug of coffee as she sat down. "As much as your arguing is pleasing to the ears," she chuckled "please avoid doing such around Elijah. I don't want him picking up the habit of talking back as he did last time."

**Elijah?**

Watson wiped egg off of his muzzle. "Oh yeah, I forgot he's coming. Isn't he arriving tomorrow?"

She shook her head. "This morning actually. I'm heading to the train station after breakfast if you two would like to tag along. I'm sure Elijah would be pleased."

"For sure! I'll get dressed after I finish up breakfast." Watson began shoving the rest of his non-syrup covered bacon into his mouth.

"Would you like to come, Amina?"

The obvious answer was no. But something inside of her knew that wasn't the best idea. She was stranded in an alien world and the best way to discover more about her knew environment was to immerse herself in it.

"Yeah. Sounds like fun. I'd love to surprise him!"

She was met with a warm smile. "Glad to hear, now finish up your breakfast."

Amina looked down at her plate. By the way things seemed it probably wasn't poisoned. She dug in, much to her stomach's delight, but still avoided the bacon covered in egg yolk.


	3. 75 Percent

**-****Sometime in the near future****-**

"Press the damn button, Amina, or I will fucking end you!" Susie shouted, lungs burning from the swelling flames around them. Dust was spilling out of her open wounds, some of Amina's blood stained on her shirt, but she wasn't giving up. She was too determined.

"I-" Amina took a step back, lowering the button. "I can't do it."

"You didn't seem to have a problem doing it before! How is this any different?!"

"This _is _different! This world is precious and you're blind if you can't see that!" The burns were starting to get to her, it felt like the pain was digging into her muscle tissue, deeper and deeper, heading toward bone. But she wasn't tearing up because of that. "I can't keep doing this! They're going to spread out whether we destroy everything or not! It didn't stop them before if you hadn't already noticed!"

"We'll go someplace far away from here where they can't find us in our lifetime or some shit!"

The room shook, gunshots and explosions getting nearer.

Some of the lights above shattered, sparks falling down. Amina was able to dodge a few, but some managed to fall on her skin, some on the already burned areas. She cringed inward, gasping for air as she tried to find her next words. Her brain was so scattered. "And leave this place to rot? There's got to be something else we can do!"

Susie laughed. "We'll end up like Kris and Noelle, idiot!"

"Ending everything is the cowardly way out," Amina threw the device at Susie. It clattered to the floor as it pushed on, hitting Susie's shoes, but it did not break. "so if you want to be a coward you can destroy me along with everything else. I'm done arguing with you."

"So suddenly you don't want to be a coward?" She scoffed. There was hidden pain in her voice that Amina picked up on. Despite that, she picked up the device and Amina was stricken with fear. She didn't think she would actually do it.

_Don't be a coward._

Amina thought.

_If you die. You die._

"I'll be the villain as usual. That's fine with me." Without a second thought and no remorse, Susie began to bring down her claw on the button. Another bomb went off before Susie pushed it, yet she kept her grip on it firm. The room shook violently, dust falling from the ceiling like the room was going to collapse inward at any moment.

Bottles filled with mysterious liquid and many other unidentifiable misc objects shattered onto the ground. The giant metal shelf next to Susie rattled, the bottom legs finally caving and the shadow looming over her grew.

"Susie!"

**-****Present Day****-**

History of Humans and Monsters

By: Gerson Boom

Amina spotted the book on her mother's shelf as they were getting ready to leave and politely asked to bring it along for the car ride. Apparently the train station was a good hour away so her mother didn't question it. Neither did Watson. Perhaps she was a bookworm?

Speaking of her "mother", Amina had settled on referring to her as Allie, short for alligator if that wasn't apparent enough. "Mother" just wasn't right, especially when she met the gator a little over an hour ago. Her real name was a mystery and she wasn't idiot enough to ask. Most children knew their parents' names, especially at her age.

So, to correct herself, she had asked Allie's permission to bring the book along.

Amina wasn't one to boast, but she felt pretty smart spotting the book out of the large collection Allie had. It was rather convenient bearing in mind she had no idea what the relation between her and these monsters were. And lucky for her, they were called "monsters" indeed. As of why they all looked so different but were all considered the same species, Amina had no idea. That was a question for another time. Or one that would never be answered.

Her head spun only from reading the title. It was best to wish no vomit would appear on the ride over rather than avoid reading altogether. Most likely, she wouldn't have much time to read when Elijah was visiting, whoever that was. By the way Allie described him, he seemed a bit of a handful.

She began flipping through the book, trying to find a good spot to begin. Starting at the very beginning where it only spoke of humans being monkeys and whatever else seemed a bit unnecessary. She didn't care much about monster and human evolution, she wanted to know their "relation". So far she observed no other humans when they drove through the town to the highway so it was safe to say humans and monsters either liver apart or humans were endangered.

Or their town, with the stupid name of Seameet, was just plain odd.

Chapter 18: The Great Civil War

The Great Civil War was a war fought throughout the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the monsters of the north (the Union) and the humans of the south (the Confederacy). The Great Civil War began primarily as a result of a long-standing controversy over the enslavement of monsters in the south. War broke out in April 1861…..

Amina stopped. The Great Civil War seemed to ring a bell, just not in the same way. It was similar but also very different. Not having great memories at the moment didn't help pinpoint why. Shrugging it off, she flipped to another chapter as she adjusted herself in the car to a more comfortable position.

Chapter 36: World War II

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries, including all the great powers, eventually forming two opposing military alliances; The Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from more than 30 distinguished monster and human countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict between humans and monsters, marked by 7% of monster species wiped out and roughly 75% percent of humans….

"75 percent?"

"What was that, Amina?" Allie, still keeping the car steady, looked in the rearview mirror, making awkward eye contact with Amina. She hadn't noticed by now, but the monster's eyes could best be described as an ice brown. Not a calming brown like her's at all. It was like they were piercing into her soul.

Immediately, Amina turned her attention to the window outside, focusing on the passing pine and dogwood trees, along with the car's vibration. She allowed her body to sink into the leather seat as she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. It came out as a dragged out sigh. "Nothing. Just reading about World War II."

Watson paused before removing his elbow from the arm rest. He glanced at her with an eyebrow raised. "Why are you reading that depressing stuff?"

Those two paragraphs she read had only been a small sliver of history, yet it seemed humans were the bad guys and paid with the slaughter of their race. What percentage of humans were there compared to monsters? Did monsters view humans poorly and vice versa?

But the question that sent shivers up Amina's spine was "Should I fear them?"

Even if she was still freaked out and confused, she wouldn't say she was afraid for her life. Allie may come off as intimidating but so far she had not done anything that warranted as a warning sign. As for Watson, he was just a fluffy dog who didn't talk much in the morning. She barely knew anything about them, yet she felt somewhat comfortable. Comfortable being used as a soft term.

And some of the monsters she saw outside this morning, many of which were old people walking their pets, looked almost as horrific as Allie.

She was letting her guard down too fast, she had to be more careful.

Watson noticed Amina's hand had gripped the book tighter, her hand started to quiver.

"Um, you okay?"

She put on a soft smile and turned to him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit carsick from reading."

* * *

"-and thank you for taking Union Atlantic Railway. Safe Travels." The train attendant chirped through the speaker in a very different tone from when she was serving drinks and food.

They didn't have the tomato soup Susie liked so the whole ride was a bust. In addition, they only gave her one serving of everything. Her stomach grumbled at that thought.

_Everything's bullshit._

As the mic was turned off, there was a high pitched chirr that emitted from the speakers. It worked as a trigger; unanimously everyone on the train got up from their seats to get their luggage either below or above them. But Susie only had her backpack that sat on her lap, so did the little asshole next to her. It had been a few hours since they had spoken, Elijah actually fell asleep at one point so the awkward silence between them was left at peace. But now he was wide awake, Susie's letters from Kris and Noelle still tucked into the pocket by his ass.

Whether he was meeting up with family at the station or not, she was going to rip them straight our from his fucking pocket, even if she ripped his pants as well leaving him to cry in his undies right in front of his dipstick aunt and dunce cousins. That's what the punk deserved.

Susie noted his plaid pink backpack he wore as he bolted past her to the exit, giving her a small smile and a wave. The nerve of that kid.

Blackmailing her and not even bothering to give her his address? Not that it mattered because this was going to end here and now.

His "bolting" wasn't exactly "fast". Susie could keep a clear view of him as long as she kept up a long stride while stepping into the stuffy train station. Not crowded, just stuffy.

And old.

And smelly.

His annoyingly nyan pink bag could still be seen through the cracks between people. He stopped somewhere near the exit. By the benches it seemed.

Susie wasn't sure if her mom was picking her up or not, but that wasn't something she was concerned about at the moment. Currently she had another issue to deal with. So she stuffed her hands in her pockets, straightened her posture, and narrowed her eyes, making sure she looked as angry and intimidating as possible as she marched past other monsters, nudging some smaller than her to the side.

To her luck, it didn't seem like he was with anyone. He was just waiting next to someone on the old wooden bench, kicking his legs. He was looking up at the ceiling like he was in awe of the architecture or something. Susie didn't know much about architecture but she knew enough to clarify that this place was a piece of shit.

But he was distracted which meant he didn't know what was coming. She smirked, making a point to show her sharp yellow teeth and growled.

Elijah's attention was now fully on her as she pulled him up by the shirt, his feet still dangling and the keychain on his backpack rattling from the sudden force. "You thought you could just mess with me on the train and get away scott free, huh?" It felt like her insides were boiling, train of thought out the window. She didn't care if he was a kid or not anymore. "Well you were fucking wrong. Your face isn't gonna be in such good shape when your family comes to greet you."

The figure sitting next to him jumped away from the bench in panic. By the way Elijah looked up at her, Susie could tell she struck a chord with him. Elijah didn't think she had the guts to mess with a 12 year old. And he was right. At first.

His eyes shut tight as his bottom lip quivered. "Amina…" he managed to whimper. "H-help."

"Oh, calling for your cousin, aye? Too bad, don't think they're anywhere around here."

A shaking hand landed on Susie's wrist, like it was calmly telling her to let him go. The skin was warm and soft on her scales. She shot her head up to meet eyes with a human girl, she thought she was a girl, Susie couldn't tell the difference between most humans. She looked just as scared, if not more scared than Elijah did as she quivered in her navy blue dress like a pansy. Yeah, she was definitely a girl if she was shaking that much.

*What a pussy.

"P-put him… put him down."

Susie sneered at who could be assumed as Amina. Who knew the freak was related to another freak. "Yeah? And what are you going to do about it?"

It was like Amina grew paler at the question. She let go and took a step back. "I- I don't know. Just put him down. Please?" Her arms were held up in defense like she was afraid of being attacked at any moment. And if Susie were to do just that, her fragile looking arms wouldn't prevent a beating.

"What in Angel's name do you think you're doing?!" A voice bellowed. It took Susie by so much surprise she actually managed to drop the kid. Angry motherly voices was something she feared and it was just that. A large alligator monster helped Elijah off of the floor, quickly checking him for any injuries. She looked up at Susie with sharp brown eyes that screamed with rage.

Must've been Aunt Polly.

She stood up, pushing Elijah behind her. Amina decided to step behind her as well, next to some golden retriever looking monster that had showed up after Polly. "I leave for the vending machine for one minute and you decide it's alright to pick on my nephew? What on earth is your issue, young lady? If your mother was here I'd-"

"Polly?" A tall blue dragon monster questioned. Her voice was friendly but snobbish. "Oh, looks like you found my daughter before I did. How nice."

Susie's tall posture was gone within moments. She was hoping she would be forced to take a taxi ride home rather than an awkward one with her mom.

Polly smiled back to be polite before her face turned to one of concern. "Ah, you caught us at a bad time, Hellyn. Your daughter- how do I put this? Your daughter was threatening my nephew."

Susie wasn't quite happy with how this was going. Her mother gripped her shoulder, forcing her to face her, but Susie, being the stubborn girl she was, refused to meet her gaze. Instead she crossed her arms and huffed.

"You what?!"

"The punk stole from me."

"No, I didn't!" He protested.

Her mother snarled, a laugh escaping her scaly lips. It came out more like an amused hiss. "A 12 year old stole from you, Susie? I don't buy that for one second."

"Hellyn," Polly interrupted her, grabbing her mother's attention again. Susie was thankful for that. "It's over with. Everything turned out alright in the end. She let him go and we worked it out."

Hellyn made a "hmph" noise to herself, putting a hand to her chin, a claw scratching the surface.

Why was Polly sticking up for her after she literally was a hair away from beating up her nephew?

"I'm thankful everything is okay." She glanced toward Susie. "But I'd still think it would be best to make it up to you and your…" She glanced back toward Amina and the dog monster, there was a quick look of disgust, but it left as soon as it came. "And your family come over for dinner tonight?"

"O-oh, I don't want to put you through all that-"

"No." Hellyn raised a hand. "I insist. We haven't hung out in awhile so it would be a nice change of pace. Maybe the children will learn how to get along as well." She tugged at Susie's hand, claws digging into her skin. She flinched. "8 pm sound good to you?"

Polly took a moment to respond. "Well, I'd suppose that'd be alright."

"Great, I'll see you all then."

Susie looked back at the odd family one last time as her mother tugged her away. This summer was already a shit show.

She was going to have to find another way to get those notes.


	4. Checkers and Vomit

"And that's checkmate, again!" Elijah snickered. He tightened his grasp on his king as he brought his checker over Watson's final one.

Watson shrugged. "Guess I can't beat you at checkers, huh?" He wasn't expecting Elijah to be so gullible. For a 12 year old, he was alert and sharp-eyed as some would say, he was very close to being a teen, after all. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Watson was going mega easy on him. His chess awards hung pridefully in his room and he happily had showed them off to multiple family members and friends, Elijah being one of him. But if Elijah was as vigilant as Watson assumed, than perhaps he was just pretending to think Watson was actually that bad for the sake of basking in victory. And in that sense, Watson had to give him credit because he sold it fairly well. Elijah needed a hobby he was dedicated to so Watson couldn't help but wonder if theatre was a good possibility for him. "Dude, ever considered theatre?"

Elijah ignored him. "Hey, why hasn't Amina joined us yet? She loves beating me at chess."

*Because she can't beat anyone else.

Elijah thought. But the nagging feeling of Amina acting strange nipped at the back of his head. His mother was too blind to see it, but Amina was trying so hard to act normal all day. It was like she had some terrible nightmare overnight and was still trying to wake up from it. If he didn't know any better, it was like she was scared of, well, everything? Her hiding her nose in a history book didn't cover that up in the least. She may have been a bookworm, but she hated history for sure. She was a fiction sort of gal. She wouldn't admit it, but more specifically fanfiction with that old early 2000s band. Watson couldn't remember the name of the group. Jonah bros? Jonas bros? Jonas brothers? Yeah, Jonas brothers.

Despite his concerns, he wasn't going to voice he had picked up on Amina's strange behavior to the 12 year old. He was nosy and Watson considered himself a good enough brother to spare her from Elijah.

"She's not feeling well. Headache, she says. I don't think you want her throwing up all over the checkerboard, do ya?"

Elijah shook his head with a sneer forming on his snout. "Ew, no! I forgot stuff comes out of humans' holes. That's disgusting!"

Elijah must've never tried human food before. Watson was going to ask about it to get the subject off of Amina, but was quickly interrupted when Elijah's eyes lit up and he slammed his hands down on the table.

"Why don't we go bring her a cold rag for her head? Oh, and some tea!"

"Um," That was a bad idea. Especially if Amina's "headache" was real and not just an excuse to escape to her room, which he doubted. Either way… "It'd probably be better if we let her rest. You'll get to hang with her plenty this summer so giving her a break for a few hours should be alright. Don't you agree?"

"I guess…"

Every year, Watson hoped Elijah's whiny facade he put on when he was upset would be outgrown, but every year he was wrong. Elijah was mature, but extremely immature in other areas. Specifically, the annoying ones. Probably because it worked to his advantage around adults. Watson wanted to give it another shot to change the subject. This time for a different reason; to spare his sanity. "What was that thing about in the train station?"

Elijah tilted his head. This immediatly irritated the dog monster because Elijah clearly knew what he was talking about based on his stupid smirk.

"Spill it, man. We all wanna know."

"Not really, seeing it's only you and me here."

"I'm not just going to leave this be. The adults are stupid enough to believe you're the victim but I know you did something to irritate that girl. She may be the summerly town bully, but she doesn't just go around picking on little kids from what I observed. Heck, I don't think she even knows we exist. Until today that is, so thanks for that."

Crossing his arms, Elijah put them on the table to lean on as he scowled. "I don't like your IQ level."

"That has nothing to do with my observation skills."

"Fine, I stole from her."

Watson's jaw dropped. A 12 year old stealing? And Elijah, the annoying little jerk of all people?

*Wait. Actually that's not surprising.

"What the hell were you thinking stealing from someone? HER of all people for Angel's sake!" Watson wasn't one to swear but harsh language would surely make his concern get through to Elijah more easily.

"You know I don't like bad words!"

"Then you know I'm mad!"

"Okay, fine. I stole from her because I wanted her to hang out with us."

That made no sense. If Elijah wasn't a kid, Watson would of bitch slapped him for lack of a better term. He wanted to bitch slap him a lot, but more than usual in this situation. "How is stealing going to get someone to hang out with us, idiot?"

"Blackmail, duh."

Watson started to massage his temples, his head was starting to ache. Maybe he would have to retreat to his room and lay down as well. That sounded nice at the moment. "Okay, I know you think we're the 'town losers' or whatever because we don't hang out with a lot of other kids, but the big scary chick is your first pick? Really?"

"It's not like we have a lot of options."

"I think you mean, it's not like YOU have a lot of options. Me and Amina don't care to be involved in your little plan."

"You never asked Amina."

"You know she's not interested." He rested his hand on his fist, waving his other hand to emphasize his next question. "What did you steal from her anyway?"

Paper was laid out on the table that Elijah gestured to. Watson hadn't noticed they were there until now. "Paper?"

"No. Letters from what I assume are her friends in her town. I read them, they're pretty sappy." Elijah rolled his eyes at that. "But she'll get them back if she hangs with us, just once. That was my demand."

"I hate you, y'know?"

"Strongly dislike." He corrected.

"Whatever. Listen, you can hang with the dino girl, but I won't. I don't want any business having to deal with your evil master plan going on. If she thinks I'm related to this whole 'blackmail' scheme, I'll get my face beat in for sure."

"No," Elijah whined. It was hard, but Watson managed to hold back a wince. His whines were really high pitched and difficult to listen to. "You know you need more friends. The closest thing you have to a friend is your stupid chess trophis and medals. I bet you talk to them at night."

"Hey now, that's-"

"I'll make a deal with you. You come hang out with me and dino monster once and I'll leave you and Amina alone all summer. No having to listen to me whine, not having to listen to me sing, no having to play hide and seek with me, and NO having to watch Kirby Right Back At Ya."

That was a pretty good deal, but it was hard to believe nonetheless. "And what are you going to do all summer if you don't have me and Amina to entertain you?"

"I'll hang out with dino girl instead. Alone. Which won't happen because I know we're all gonna end up being friends with her."

"A few minutes ago I thought you were smart and observant, but I was dead wrong."

"Well, you may be a chess king but you suck as social skills." Elijah smiled when Watson scoffed in response. "So we got a deal?"

"Sure. Whatever. I'll play your game but if you don't hold up your end of the deal, I swear-"

The sound of vomiting from the bathroom upstairs cut Watson off.

"Ewwww!"

Holding a hand out, Watson shushed him. "I'll go check on her, 'kay? You stay here." Worry began to build up inside of his chest. Not only was Amina acting strange, but she NEVER got sick. Ever. Once when they were 5, maybe? A few colds here and there but that's it. If their mother was home and not out at the supermarket for Angle knows what (probably to get more cleaning supplies or something), she would be flipping out. He quickly filled up a glass of water, not bothering to clean up the puddle he spilled on the ground before he wearily headed upstairs.

"Amina? You alright?" He was aware that was a stupid question considering she just threw up but it wasn't like there was much else to say.

The bathroom door was open with the lights off, while the room to her bedroom was closed. He made a wild guess where she was and knocked on the door. "Amina. I brought you water. Can I come in?"

There was no response. She would normally just yell at him for disturbing her and say "fuck off". But she didn't. Not only was the pressure building up in his chest, but his stomach was starting to twist into a knot. Something was up. "If you don't answer I'm going to come in."

He heard a shaky sigh before she responded. She still sounded scared and on guard like earlier today. "...you can come in…"

The door creaked as Watson entered, making the situation a bit more unsettling than it needed to be. The first thing he saw was all the history books and photo albums on the ground. He looked back up at her. "Um, I heard- we heard- you're sick so I brought you some water. You doing okay?"

She was sitting on the bed staring at the wall blankly, but when he walked in her head shot toward him, eyes wide. She nodded her head and she took the glass from him, her hands shaking more than her voice did. It gave Watson anxiety watching the water get super close to falling over the edge. She took a sip.

"Did something you ate today make your stomach upset?" That was a trick question, all they had today was monster food, but for some reason Watson felt the need to ask. To see what she was going to say. If food had made her sick she would have thrown up yesterday when she ate human food. So if she was throwing up yesterday's meal, it was either a stomach flu, which he doubted, or she was super motion sick, something he also doubted, or she was a nervous and stressed wreck. That was the most plausible to him.

She nodded her head to his surprise. "I think lunch made me sick."

Although it was a trick question, Watson was hoping his gut was lying to him and Amina would tell the truth. Although it caught him off guard that's not what scared him. What they had for lunch was her favorite monster food, a chicken salad sandwich, and it was like she didn't even know. She didn't get excited over it or say thank you. It was as if...she thought it was the human version which tasted completely different and when her face scrunched in it was clear she had no idea what it was or why it tasted that way.

Watson knitted his eyebrows together. "Stop lying, what's going on?"

She didn't respond.

"I'm not going to leave until you answer me. I went along with everything since this morning, but I know something's up. You're acting weird. It's like… you're scared and confused? Seriously, what's up? I'm worried." He made sure to sound as calm and as supportive as possible. "You know you can talk to me."

She shut her eyes. "You really aren't going to leave me alone are you?"

"Not until you talk to me."

"I just have a headache, that's all. I think I'm motion sick from the car."

Watson sighed. "I know you're lying. You always shut your eyes when you're lying."

Amina hugged herself, bringing her knees to her chest. "How do you know that? I didn't even know that."

The room went silent for a few seconds. He wasn't sure what to say at first. "Because I'm your sibling?" Continuing to push a teenage girl wasn't the greatest idea, and as uneasy as it made him feel, he had to keep going. "You only throw up when you're nervous or scared."

She finally looked up at him, still curled in a ball. But she wasn't crying, she wasn't even tearing up like he expected her to. "Because I am scared. I'm scared of you."

His mouth went dry. He opened his mouth but it felt like his lungs shut down. It sounded odd, but Watson imagined having lung cancer that was so bad surgeons had to remove them all together. It felt like that had happened.

"I'm scared of you, and that freaking alligator woman, and the alligator boy. Everyone! I practically had a panic attack at the train station. I was the only human surrounded by a bunch of- a bunch of monsters. And I know you think I'm crazy, but whatever, this situation is crazy. I probably just broke down and I'm imagining all this in an insane asylum. And if this is real, then you're probably gonna eat me eventually or something. And all these history books-" she gestured to the mess on the floor "They don't say anything about monsters eating humans. But I know they do. You wiped out 75% of the human population, didn't you? So it would make sense if a few of 'em ended up on your damn plate."

Now he was the one to stay silent.

"Don't play mute. Say something."

How could he say something? Whatever she was rambling on about was unbelievably insane. "What?" was all he managed to say. He knew it was a pathetic response, but it was better than "you've gone insane. I need to tell mom to call a therapist."

"What?" She mocked. "Are you going to eat me?"

"No?" He eyed the door, debating whether he should just leave. That felt wrong, he didn't just want to leave his sister in the middle of a break down. "Monsters don't eat humans."

"Then what do you do to humans, huh?"

"Nothing." He kept calm. If he freaked out or treated her like she was crazy, it would make things way worse. He watched enough Dr. Bill to know how these things worked. "The war was a long time ago. The human population is growing, slowly, but growing. And we live in peace. That's it."

To his surprise, she got off the bed to pick up a photo album. One of when they were kids. It looked like they were around 3 or 4. She handed it to him delicately, despite her being freaked out. He took it, observing the photos on the page. It was a sort of montage of them playing in the snow when they went on vacation to Alaska.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this…" She began "but I don't remember anything, Watson. I didn't even know your name this morning. I don't know who you are or who I am. I remember I had a human family… but that's it. I can't even see their faces. And then I just… woke up today." The way she looked at him and how serious her face was, he knew she was telling the truth. She believed what she was saying whether he believed her or not. "I don't know how any of you know who I am."

He bit the inside of his mouth. As absurd as it was, the way she looked at him just now, he couldn't not believe her. "Okay. I believe you."

"No you don't. You think I'm crazy."

"No," He took her hand in his. She tried to pull it away but he kept his grip firm. "I do. You've been acting weird all day and this explains why. Maybe…" Now he was going to sound crazy. Great. "You know I'm into science."

She stared at him blankly. She had calmed down, but she looked more confused than before.

"Oh wait, of course you don't know that. Well, I'm into science. Specifically philosophy and astronomy. So maybe- maybe you like… traveled through a wormhole or hopped dimensions or something?" He tried to think of something else to explain what was going on. "And maybe you coming here affected the timeline so everyone remembers you even if you were never here to begin with." He never read that theory in any philosophy book. But it was the only thing he could come up with to explain her massive claims.

"...you actually believe me?"

Watson was relieved to hear her calm tone again. She wasn't angry before, just really worked up, but now she was soft spoken and polite sounding as she was for most of the day. He managed to shrug. "I've never heard of such a thing in philosophy books. But the thing with philosophy is that anything is possible. I've read about the theory of other dimensions and wormholes before so…"

She looked down at the mess around them, probably to avoid eye contact. "I shouldn't have told you all that. That was stupid. You're not going to say it but I still know you think I'm crazy."

"I don't think you're crazy."

"Yeah, okay." She managed a small smile which relieved Watson's built up stress. Just a minimal amount. "I'm just glad I'm not going to be eaten."

Taking a small risk, he told a small lewd joke. Something they would do to each other, or something he thought they did. "You're not really my taste."

It came by surprise, but she nudged his shoulder. "Rude. But-" her voice returned back to one of concern and worry "there's nothing I can do about this situation. I'm stuck here with a brother who is going to tell my alligator monster mom about this and then she'll ship me off to a mental asylum."

"I'm not going to tell anyone and…" He held out his pinky "I'll help you figure out something. Or at the very least, dig out some of my philosophy books on dimensional travel. I pinky promise."

Amina gave him a quizzical look. She looked back at the wall, like she was asking it's permission to take him up on his offer. She shrugged and wrapped her pinky around his.


	5. The New and The Scared

Susie gazed up at the mansion that loomed above the black Mercedes. It wasn't a mansion the average monster imagined from movies or saw when playing The Sims 3 as a kid, but that's what it was like to Susie compared to her old, beat up, two bedroom house. Her mother's home was 3 stories with pristine wooden floors, so clean Susie could see her own reflection in it, heated tile in all the bathrooms, expensive ass (in Susie's words) marble counters in the kitchen, and a jacuzzi on the back porch next to a bar. It was 8000 square feet of living space; the only reason Susie knew that was because her mother wouldn't shut up about it.

Hell, it even had one of those fancy electric gates around it.

She was going to stop there. It would take hours for her to list every astonishing feature of the mansion. A mansion anyone deserved but her devil of a mother.

The garden out front let the car pass. It looked neat and well kept as always with picture perfect flowers that could go in any gardening magazine that only old ladies read.

Susie's body fell limp as her body rolled down the seat. Ironically, her limbs finally decided to let her relax as soon as they were pulling into the garage. A garage that didn't look like a garage because it was clean like everything else in the damn house.

As her mom put the Mercedes in park, she slowly turned to Susie with a scowl. Not the kind a mother makes when they're disappointed, the kind someone makes when a dog shits on their carpet. Her mom was like this every year, whether Susie did something or not, so it was to be expected. But it never stopped pissing Susie off. Whatever upset her mom so much to be in an angry state ALL the time would forever be a total mystery. It wasn't like she was the one that ended up with all the money after the divorce or anything.

"What?" Susie muffled out, with a hint of anger to add some flare to the comment. An attempt to intimidate the woman who intimidated her. She focused on her mom's smeared bright red lipstick, something her mom would notice next time she looked in the mirror and Susie would laugh as her face flushed read and her eyebrows narrowed.

"We'll speak inside." The door slammed as her mother got out of the car, her heels stomping on the ground as she walked inside the home. Susie was surprised the car didn't have any dents from her mother's strength. Or her own. She had hit the car quite a few times in the past few summers.

"We'll speak inside." Susie mocked to herself. She stuffed her hands in her coat pockets, slouching as she walked inside. She didn't bother to pick up her feet, instead shuffled her shoes across the floor, leaving a small trail of dirt to piss her mom off. It would be more work for the maids when they came back to clean in a day or so, but it was worth it to see an angry stomp of her mother's heel as she pouted.

There was a coat rack, but Susie threw her dirty jacket on top of the salt water fish tank instead. Her mom didn't bother to comment on it, she just crossed her arms as her foot began tapping the floor impatiently.

"So are you going to yell at me yet or…?"

"There's nothing to yell at you for, it's not like that's going to get you to rethink your actions."

Susie yawned. Taking in her surroundings like she had never seen the place before. The inside looked the same too. "I told ya, the freak stole from me."

"I don't care about that! It's the fact you made me seem like a bad parent who can't control her own child in public!"

"Cuz you can't."

A clawed hand made contact with Susie's cheek, throwing her head to the side.

"And your father thinks it's okay to make you my problem every summer." She scoffed. "The sweet irony."

Susie gently massaged her cheek. It was hard to assess the damage without a mirror, but she may as well try. Her mother's claws made a deep cut, letting some dust sprinkle down her face.

That was nothing.

It was pathetic.

Maybe her mom was giving up after all these years.

"Everyone knows you're a bad mom whether I'm here or not."

Her mom didn't respond this time around, surprisingly.

"Are we done here? I kinda want to hit the snooze for a bit. You can beat me up later when I feel like it."

The jacket was taken off the fish tank and hung on the coat rack. "Take your time resting because you won't be doing anything else for the rest of the day." Her mom's voice was monotone, something she did was she close to breaking, as she continued to face the hung coats. "You will not leave your room for the rest of the day. And you will NOT be joining us for dinner. Are we clear?"

The last part of the sentence was spoken through gritted teeth. Susie shrugged. "Sure. Whatever. Like I said, beat me later."

She grabbed hold of the railing, ignoring her growling stomach as she made her way upstairs. It wasn't that big of a deal, she would get food in a bit. It was one of the few things she was good at. And she was going to join for dinner, her mom wouldn't dare beat her up in front of guests.

And Susie wasn't afraid of beatings from her. It was her hate toward her own daughter that stung.

* * *

Kris drew a smiling flower on the glass of QC's diner.

"You've been drawing the same thing over and over again since you were 3. Why not a smiling tree, instead?" Asriel laughed, his hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate. It may have been summer, but Kris and him both got one anyway. The cold air conditioning on the inside made it bearable. Kris was even shivering a bit.

"My flower skills have massively improved throughout the years, I can't stop now." Kris huffed on the glass again. "Want me to draw you?"

"Go ahead. But make sure to make me astonishingly handsome. It has to be as accurate as possible."

"Riiiiight."

"Hey," Something popped into Asriel's head, queuing him to change the subject. "I know she just left for Seameet and all, but how's Susie doing?"

Kris loved his brother, in a bit of an unhealthy way some would say, but Asriel had a habit of always bringing up topics that were sensitive to him. Unknowingly of course.

And at the moment, Susie was that topic. Asriel was here with him, but Susie being gone hurt just as much as when Asriel left for college. He only had two people in his life, two people he was lost without. But he couldn't say that, his brother would get all worried like he usually did and he didn't want to be pitied. He already was enough for being the only human in a town full of monsters.

He made sure to keep his face neutral, it kind of felt like a force field when he did that. "She's fine I guess. Wasn't too excited about seeing her mom, but she promised she would call me when she can."

Asriel smiled. His classic warm smile. "I know I said this before, but I'm so happy you made a friend. I knew you would."

Kris didn't know what to say to that, but luckily someone cut into the conversation before he had to.

"Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear you mention the town known as Seameet." It was a very deep and masculine voice, Kris looked up at a very tall buff bunny. It would have been amusing if he wasn't so scary looking. He had red eyes, a scar over is left one. He looked like the cliche villain in secret agent movies or something. He had a suit and everything. What the heck was up with this dude? Kris raised a brow as Asriel responded kindly.

"Yes we did mention it. My brother's friend is there for the summer." His voice sounded nervous. Kris didn't blame him.

"Susie, correct?"

This made Kris' heart begin to pump faster. Why would he need to ask that? Something wasn't right.

"Ye-"

"No!" Kris reached a hand out in protest. "Our distant cousin, Suzanne, left. She lives with her grandma, our great aunt, in Seameet. She was just visiting for the week." He was aware that was a stupid cover up, Suzanne sounded nothing like Susie.

The bunny gazed at him, suspicion was the best way to describe his expression. He turned back to Asriel. "Do you mind giving me directions?"

Asriel eyed Kris quickly. His expression matched what Asriel felt. Fear. He gulped. "Um, I don't know where it is. A long ways from here. It's a- it's a crummy town."

"I see." The monster corrected his posture, putting his hands behind his back like a bodyguard. "Do you two know a Susie?"

"No." Asriel and Kris said in unison.

The monster said no more, he turned and marched out the door of the diner, his movements… robotic.

Asriel turned back to Kris, a bit of whip cream still on his muzzle. "Is that guy like a weird creepy step uncle of Susie or something? Freaky."

"No." Kris wrapped his hands tighter on the mug. "I'll tell Susie about it when she calls."

* * *

It was odd for Amina to sit next to Watson so closely, his fur rubbed against her pale skin that had been sunburnt from something she couldn't remember. But his fur didn't irritate it, in fact, it was soothing. But she couldn't help but be embarrassed that she had spilled all the beans on the table in such a ridiculous manner, without even thinking about it first. It was such an absurd story as well. Watson had assured her otherwise, but she knew for a fact he thought she was a bit ludicrous. He was just too nice of a guy to say anything.

Despite telling him everything, which she regretted very much because it was such a foolish thing to do, she still didn't trust him. No monster for that matter. However, she allowed his help because it was the only thing she had going for her. It felt like the beginning of forming a plan to get back home. But deep down it was known between them that it was scientifically impossible, but hope still blossomed within her. At the very least, she wanted her memories.

A part of her hoped that she had a case of amnesia and everything would come rushing back, filling her with relief and scrubbing the fear away. Amina wasn't stupid enough to believe it wasn't plausible she was crazy, she just wouldn't admit it. She was 90% sure she was indeed sane to counter that. The fact a slice of her still doubted everything would be kept a secret at the moment. Eventually, maybe, she would speak of her doubts once she knew enough information about the world… and maybe even herself.

After her idiotic confession to Watson, he decided to stay with her awhile to go through monster and human history (apparently the country consisted of 37.5% humans, much higher than previous years), magic, what monsters were made of (blood not being a part of that, strangely), human and monster souls, monster religion, different types of monsters, even geography and just basic things about the planet and it's countries. Those two subjects did sound familiar, if Amina's mind wasn't deceiving her. Watson was currently taking the time to go through the family photo books together, charitably talking about each photo and explaining the memory behind it. That made it more obvious he still had hope she had a case of amnesia as well.

The two of them sat upon the brown carpet in her room. She studied the wool it was made of, the way strings twisted out from it's woven, knitted path. It was itchy and very uncomfortable to lay on, stomach down to add. Amina's arms were beginning to fall asleep, her brother's voice beginning to be drowned out by her own rapid thoughts. The repeating phrase of "This is freaking insane. Fuck this." ringing her head like a horrid siren. Maybe she would go deaf so she wouldn't have to keep listening to Watson. Sure, all this stuff was interesting and useful, but he had been going on and on for hours. She just wanted to be alone, to think to herself in peace and quiet. It had been quite the stressful day after all. But the family still had to go to that stupid dinner the weird dino or dragon mother invited them to with their horrific bully daughter.

"Hey, what about Elijah? He's been alone for awhile." Amina asked, by chance he would understand how she was hinting him to shoo himself away. Clearly, by the way he turned to her and shook his head with a smile, it didn't work.

"No need to worry about that. He's super horrified of how humans throw up and everything so he won't dare come upstairs at all today. He's most likely keeping himself busy with video games, thank goodness. I don't like to deal with him. Makes summer kinda sucky."

She let out an awkward chuckle, the room began to feel super warm. It was probably just her. "Wait…" He had said 'how humans throw up' "Do monsters not throw up?"

Immediately he let out a bark laugh. It was amusing that he still had some weird dog habits despite being an intelligent being. "Oh, I didn't tell you about that, did I? Monsters usually don't… release stuff from their body. I guess we can if we eat human food, but most monsters, including myself, don't like the taste."

"What if a human eats monster food?"

"Monster food is made of magic, which a monster can absorb since that's what we're made off, so it works as fuel. But your body isn't made of magic so it isn't absorbed. Sorry."

"You guys are weird, I swear." The sound of not ever having to use the bathroom sounded pretty nice. But it also sounded so… un-human. Too un-human. Which was kind of the point, wasn't it.

"So, where was I?" He tapped his chin, the fur bristling beneath his finger. It must've tickled. He probably just was used to it by now. "Oh right," He tapped a photo of him and herself standing on a rocky beach. "This is when we went to the beach with mom a few years ago. Elijah was there too but he left early with his parents. They were there as well, it was like this family reunion thingy." He covered his mouth with a hand, paw? Probably hand. He covered his mouth with his hand to hide his smile. By the way his eyes squinted it was plain he was. "I remember you poured sand on Mom's head when she was sleeping on a towel and she got sooo mad. You were grounded for a week. She didn't even let you eat dessert during the whole trip. You cried and cried. I ate chocolate cake in front of you just to make you cry more."

"Is chocolate my favorite or something?"

"Heck yes it was. Or is? Dunno what tense to use."

"Probably 'was'." A sudden question came to mind. "Say, why is Allie a gator and you're a dog and I'm a human?"

"Allie?"

Oh yeah, her name was Polly wasn't it. This was much too confusing. "Polly, sorry."

"Dang! I'm an idiot for not explaining that sooner." Watson covered his face with his arm to sneeze before continuing. If monsters were made of magic than did they have magic boogers? "Mom- er Polly, adopted us when we were a few months old. From the same orphanage. Orphaned children, kind of cliche but yeah. She was never married but really wanted kids so here we are. But if you're wondering if the rest of the family are gator looking monsters, yes. Does that answer your question."

"...my old family must've been human."

"Well duh. Wait-" He closed the book suddenly, turning to her with a eurika-type expression. "Maybe you remember having human parents because it's your baby memories that re-surfaced from some weird reason and you aren't from a different dimension! Man, that would make so much more sense."

"No." Shaking her head, she held out a hand to stop him from continuing. "I remember more than that. I remember my dad tucking me into bed, I was much older, five maybe. And I remember going through an anime phase and watching anime with my sibling who was also human."

"You like anime?"

"Liked! ...don't tell me I liked anime as a kid here as well."

"No. You didn't."

That was good news that she didn't have an embarrassing phase, but horrible at the same time. It meant that there was truly no saying what she did or didn't like. "Then… that means there's no way to tell who I am or what I'm like…"

Watson didn't respond at first, conjuring up something to say. "I do know some things about you based on today."

Raising a brow she questioned him. "What's that?"

"You worry way too much."

That wasn't very nice. "Thanks…?"

"And you're really defensive. I wouldn't go as far as to say mean, though."

Okay. How loving of Watson to share his thoughts like that. "You try not remembering anything, waking up surrounded by humans, and to not be a bit of a dick."

"Fair point. But I didn't say you were a dick. Just defensive."

"Sure." She sat up in a sitting criss-cross applesauce position. Her arms wouldn't be able to stand to hold her body up much longer if she didn't. "Well, I think you're nice. I'm not going to insult you back."

"See. I told you that you aren't a dick."

The room was filled with an awkward air. The ticking clock in the corner made it seem like this was a moment of self healing in a therapy session.

"I also think you're strong willed." Watson added.

"Shut up."

"...and brave."

That actually released a warm smiled from Amina. One that wasn't forced for the first time today. It was nice. "It just hurts to not know who I am." She murmured.

"I'm sure it does, but it'll be alright." He assured. "Don't force yourself to be someone you aren't. Just be who you think you are as time passes on."

Time. How much time would this take? That wasn't a nice thing to debate about at the moment.

"Thanks, Watson… but…" This felt like the craziest question to ask. Even compared to the booger thing that was still eating at the back of her thoughts. "What if my real name isn't Amina?"

"Does it not feel right?"

"I don't know."

"Kids?" A motherly voice called. "It's time to head to Hellyn's house. I don't want to keep her waiting! Elijah is already in the car."

"Oh goddamnit."

Watson didn't seem like one to swear much so this threw Amina off. Not a good sign. This dinner was probably going to be its own special hell.

* * *

The old handset telephone that Susie had pressed to her ear had scratch marks that shone on it's once smooth and reflective surface. The only good thing about this hell house was the fact she had her own personal phone in her room. Even if it was old and dusty like everything else in her small room. For a mansion, the room felt rather out of place. It was just a bit larger than a small bathroom. Susie couldn't help but wonder if it used to be a storage room or large walk-in closet that her mother had changed just for her. She wouldn't put it past her.

"So have you read the letters yet?" Kris asked eagerly.

She sighed, not really having the heart to tell him that they had been stolen by an 8 year old. Sorry, 12. It was the same thing to her. "Nah, I haven't really been lonely. I'm saving it for when I'm going through a rough time." What a lie. This house was a fucking nightmare. Her mood was 10x more sour than it usually was in Hometown. Especially without the company of Kris. Or the excitement of going to the Darkworld.

Kris hummed for a moment. Susie could imagine him rocking back and forth. She had seen him do that plenty of times when he was on the phone in front of her, usually speaking to his mother or, occasionally, his father. "That's a good idea, actually."

"See? I'm not as stupid as you think, huh? My grades are a lie."

He snickered, his voice cracking in the process. She couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Human puberty was weird. If she was in a better mood she would tease him about it, but due to how upset she was over the argument with her mother earlier, it probably would come out as more of an intended insult. Something Susie did not want. She would tease him about it during the next school year.

"So, how's Seameet so far?"

Okay. So, she told him she didn't need to read the notes because she wasn't lonely or having a hard time. That meant she had to play it safe and say everything was fine. Ugh, Susie hated lying to him. Luckily she didn't do that enough for Kris to have picked up on how she lied. Her dad always made comments about how she would close her knees in together when she was lying, and to her surprise, he was right. It was astonishing her mom hadn't noticed it by now. She lied to her plenty in the past. And this summer would be no different too, no doubt. "It's eh so far." Lies. "My mom is kinda being a bitch. But just normal bitch. Like, 'you're going to have broccoli for dinner' type bitch."

That would be true if Susie was allowed to eat tonight. She was going to anyway, but since she was already in trouble she would be playing by her own rules for the time being.

"My mom does that to me every night and I don't think she's a…" Kris stopped. He must've been at home if he held himself back from swearing. Not that be did often anyway. "I don't think she's… annoying."

"Your mom has that sweet tone with everything she says. She could tell me to jump off a bridge and I would do it."

"I'll make sure to tell her you said that."

"Please don't."

Susie was waiting for him to laugh, hoping his voice would crack again, but the line went silent. It wasn't humming so he hadn't hung up, but it was still unnerving, like something was going down and he had choked up. "I need to go soon, Asriel and I are going to the movies… but I need to tell you something."

The way he said it meant bad news. The last time he had a tone like that was when he told her about how his parents ended up divorcing or how being being the only human in town really fucked with him sometimes. "What is it, dude?" She kept her voice calm, not wanting to show her worry.

"Me and Asriel were at QC's earlier today. Um, do you know a mafia looking bunny monster? White, red eyes, scar. Looks like a typical bad guy from a secret agent movie or something."

She raised a brow at this, leaning back on floral printed bed sheets. "The fuck you talking about?"

"This bunny bodyguard looking guy was asking about you. I said we didn't know you because he was giving me creep vibes, but I'm a bad liar…"

She bit her lip, drawing some more dust. She wouldn't be able to bandage that like she did her face where her mother scratched her. The only option was to hold a paper towel to it later. Man, it would be convenient if she knew someone around here with healing magic. Wounds were embarrassing. They showed weakness. But that's beside the point, something that she would think more about later, Kris' concerning words were more important in the present. "And?"

"And then he asked for directions to Seameet! So he knew I was lying! Asriel acted like he didn't know and gave a fake guess that was wrong, he knew something was up too. He thought it was your weird uncle or something."

"Listen," She pinched in between her eyes. "I'll ask my mom if she knows the guy later. Don't worry about it. It's probably an old boyfriend of hers."

"Then why would he be asking about you?"

Damn. He had a good point. She shrugged, forgetting Kris couldn't see her.

"Kris, we're going to be late to the movie if we don't leave now!" Asriel yelled in the background.

"Okay!" Kris yelled back. "I gotta go, but I'll call you tonight if I can."

"Alright, dude. Peace."

The line went dead and Susie's soul felt like it was going to burst out at any moment. The way Kris described him sounded like there was a hitman after her. She was about to shove her head into the smelly pillow, that probably hadn't been washed since last year, to scream a mixture of fear and irritation...and anger, but stopped herself when the doorbell rang.

Oh, yeah. The stupid dinner guests. And fucking Elijah.

Before Susie was going to head down, against her mother's wishes, she made sure to wipe the dust from her bottom lip and rip the bandage off her cheek. She felt the wound. It seemed to have stopped dusting. Fortunately, scratches on monsters weren't THAT noticeable once the dust spilling out was done with. Therefore it was easy to cover up the abuse she endured, kinda. Pain didn't bother her, she was a tough gal, but the cops would and she didn't want to deal with all that shit and be sent to a foster home which could possibly have worse conditions. She would be 18 in two years so it was no big deal. She survived 16 years, right?

But her childhood wasn't so bad… her parents were super nice and loving before the divorce.

*Focus, Susie. Don't be a pussy ass bitch. Why are you even thinking about that?

There was food downstairs waiting for her, along with Elijah who still had her letters stuck in his ass pocket. Kid better not have left it at his house, she would go as far as to follow them home and break in if push came to shove. That wasn't preferred. Susie just wanted to be asleep in bed in the next 2 hours.

The bedroom door swung open harshly, hitting the wall. The door stopper had broken long ago from previous tantrums of hers. The more damage in this house, the merrier. Susie took extra care to stomp down the stairs as loud as she could to warn her mother of her appearance and intimidate the guests. Meaning gator boy.

"Sup, Mom." Her voice bellowed over the stair rail. "Where's the food at."

Elijah looked up at her, irritatingly not in horror. Polly just seemed confused. But the dog monster and the human seemed very intimidated. That was a win she supposed. But also not the people she needed to intimidate.

But perhaps they would be fun to "hang out with" over the summer, in Elijah's words. The fear in their eyes was to die for. She had been somewhat nice all year long with Kris, it would be nice to let some steam out on somebody. Trying to change her image in Hometown was hard. But here, did she need to worry about presenting herself nicely? Nah.

"Oh, hello dear!" Hellyn clasped her hands together, her clawed hands digging into her skin and her teeth sewn together as she spoke through them. Her eyes were bulging out of her head, giving Susie a warning to go back upstairs. But other than that, there was nothing she could do. Not in front of guests.

That was the final straw. Susie was going to make this dinner as horrid she possibly could.


	6. Dinner's Served

A few more strands of hair fell over Susie's eyes as she casually made her way down the grand steps. She didn't mind that, her eyes being covered is what intimidated people in the first place. They couldn't see her expression, only her snarl. She had to pull the big guns out tonight since Elijah was presenting himself nicely with his gay ass sweater vest. His aunt must've dressed the kid.

"As I asked previously, mother," Susie asked politely before her tone changed dramatically "Where the food at?"

Her mother frowned, aggressively at that (it seemed to be a talent of hers to make everything aggressive) before turning back to the guests. Elijah gave Susie a toothy smile before turning to Hellyn who still had her hands clasped together, fingers now knitted. "I apologize on behalf of my daughter. Sadly manners aren't exactly a part of her skill set." She eyed Susie again with a neutral amount of hate. "I'll show you all to the dining room, food's almost ready."

Elijah was about to take off into the home to no surprise. Such a large and impressive home was nothing but astonishing to a child. He was halted in his tracks by the dragon and/or dino hand plastering itself on his chest. "Mind to take off your shoes before entering, please."

He wasn't afraid of Susie, but it was crystal clear he was afraid of her mother. If only Susie's mother was smart enough to realize that Elijah was a little bitch that stole her letters. A scary mother wasn't something she could use as an advantage. Why couldn't she come off as scary like that? It was her mom after all. Same genetics and everything! *Un-fucking-fair.

Elijah threw his shoes off quickly before shooting across the shiny floor on his socks into unknown territory, much to his aunt's disapproval as she yelled after him to come back but to no avail. Hellyn assured it was fine as the rest of the family followed her into the dining hall, making sure shoes were, indeed, taken off. Susie could tell the rest of them were intimidated by her mother. More than her, just as Elijah was.

Now Susie was to decide if it was worth following the little gator freak into the mansion or to follow the others to the table. But as good as the food smelled, there wasn't really a debate.

Most of the mansion was pretty dark due to it not really being "in use" at the moment, so Susie was a bit surprised he shot off into complete darkness like that. Weren't kids supposed to be afraid of the dark? Susie may have been and tough, but even her younger self had irrational fears like every other child.

His socks must have been sweaty because his foot prints could be seen heading to the living room from the front door. It was more of a straight line since the dude was acting like he was ice skating. Her mom would not be happy and probably blame it on her which made absolutely no sense. But, hey, it wasn't like her mom was a doctor or anything. Oh wait, she was.

Susie followed the tracks, feeling silly that a part of herself pretended it was some sort of secret agent mission. Maybe she was more immature than she first thought.

The living room lights shot on as Susie's nail grazed the switch. Sure enough, Elijah was there. His face splayed against the glass of the coffee table fish tank. Susie thought it was pretty cool when she was a kid too, but now, fish were kinda lame to her.

"Aight. I think you know why I'm here, bitch."

Elijah didn't even bother to turn to her. "That's a step up from calling me a punk. You must be really pissed."

"I think it was pretty obvious your little deal you made with me on the train was bullshit. Tell you what," Susie walked over and bent down to his level "Gimme the notes and I won't tear your cousins' faces off."

That caught his attention. He finally turned to her but fear was still not stricken on his face, much to Susie's disappointment. He remained neutral. "I didn't think hanging out with me and my cousins for one time was that bad of a deal. But apparently it is to you."

She pulled him by the collar, much like she did back at the train station. "It's the fact you're blackmailing me into hanging out with a bunch of losers."

"And that makes it okay for you to blackmail me back?" He raised a brow. "It's more of a threat, really."

"That's the point." She held out her clawed and that wasn't holding him in close. "So hand over the goods, bitch."

"Well I guess you're gonna have to rip my cousins' faces off because I don't have them. Left 'em at home. How stupid do you think I am?"

Susie's face began to heat up, and based on Elijah's snicker she was probably beat red with pure rage. As much as she hated this kid, she didn't want to explode completely. But it was too late, the vase was already broken. She threw him down, his head bouncing off the floor from the force. Finally Susie saw what she yeared- no, craved to no end. Fear in his eyes. She expected someone to shout, anyone to stop her, but no one came and her fist collided with the right side of his face. One of his many teeth shot out across the floor to the left, ticking and tacking up and down on the floor before it came to a rest. Another one joined it's side. Her fist smashed down again and again. It had been so long since she had felt this alive. She almost laughed, and all this rage was built up over some stupid letters.

They were just cards that most likely read "can't wait to see you in September" and yet she lost her shit. The universe was strange and entertaining place.

Elijah finally began to scream and her laugh was released….

"Um, are you just going to stare at me or are you gonna beat me up or something?"

Susie snapped out of it. Elijah, still held in by the collar of his sweater, stared at her apprehensively. Oh, man. She got really lost in thought for a second. As much as she wanted to punch the kid, doing that in the house wasn't the best idea. Especially a whole on beating. Because he was 12, one punch was enough. But only because he was 12.

She grunted and threw him back on the floor.

In some sort of "peace treaty", Elijah turned his back pockets inside out to prove he didn't have them. That didn't ease Susie's anger in the least. She snarled and in response Elijah shrugged and moved past her to the lit area of what he assumed was the dining hall. That was where the smell was coming from after all.

"I dunno about you, but I'm hungry."

"Wait." Susie demanded. She hadn't thought before saying that and immediately wanted to take it back. She didn't want to socialize with him more than needed but she was all in now. "Listen kid, I would totally have beaten the shit outta you if it wasn't for the fact we were in my mom's ear shot."

"Sure."

Ignoring that, Susie continued. "But, why don't we make a deal?"

It was plain that this intrigued him, but he maintained his neutral expression from before. "We already made a deal. You hang with me and my cousins."

"Mhmmm, well," Susie snickered. Even if she was trying to reason with him, she still wanted to continue trying to intimidate him. "That's not gonna happen. So, I figured since you like being mischievous and whatever, I'll allow you to cause some chaos in the 'mansion' tonight and in turn I get the letters back."

He tapped his chin. "That takes the whole point out of everything. But... I'll agree if you allow my cousins to take part in said chaos."

"You think that pair of goody two-shoes would agree to something like this?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. But I wanna try."

Man, Susie wanted to smack him. But if she could get a few people in on the impulse plan she had forming in her head, it would be worth it. Plus it would count as a 'hang out' and she wouldn't have to see them for the rest of the summer. And if she did, she would give Elijah the punch he deserved and get some bullying in on the other two. Revenge would be saved for later, play time was now.

"Alright. Sounds good to me." She gave a toothy smile to match his.

"So what mischief do you have in mind?"

* * *

It was a surprise that Elijah returned to the table after just 5 minutes of "exploring" the mansion. And it was even stranger that Susie was by his side with some sort of grin Amina could not pin down the meaning of.

Watson saw her eye him questionably and simply shrugged. Susie clearly hadn't beat up Elijah when she had the chance. Impressive. But still strange.

Amina didn't have the chance to think more about, not that there was much more to think about the situation, when Susie's mom (Hellyn, was it?) took her hand. Why did she happen to choose the spot that was right next to her?

"Now that _everyone_ is here," She grimaced at Susie. Amina took note of their relationship. "Shall we pray?"

No one responded, excluding Polly who nodded as a silent agreement. Amina panicked for a moment, trying to remember what Watson had told her about monster religion. He mentioned it to her, a whole lesson, but that was towards the end when she was dozing off. She settled on the idea she most likely wouldn't have to worry about it, Hellyn would probably lead the prayer.

Right as that thought crossed her mind, Hellyn gave Amina's hand a light squeeze. A shiver was sent up her spine. "Would you like to lead the prayer, dear?"

*No.

Amina met her gaze which Hellyn was trying so hard to make loving. Amina took a wild guess that no one in Susie's family had that ability.

"Me?" Of course Hellyn was talking to her. "Oh, uh, thank you but I'm not sure I feel comfortable doing that." She really didn't. Not only because she didn't know who to pray too, but also because she really didn't want to speak that much. She was only comfortable with Watson so far, even if she knew him less than 24 hours.

Polly spoke up. "Don't be rude, sweety. You've done it plenty of times before."

Amina's gut told her not to voice otherwise. The thought of doing as such pained her with anxiety. Polly was right, she didn't want to come off as rude. "Oh, um," She bit her lip quickly to compose herself, it was Watson's turn to squeeze her hand in comfort. "Okay, I'll lead. That's no issue." Susie rolled her eyes at what Amina assumed was her pushover attitude. Or maybe it was just the fact they were praying. She joined hands with everyone nonetheless.

The only thing Amina remembered Watson telling her is that the sign that resembled their religion was called the Deltarune. Strange name but whatever.

Watson coughed. "Amina's super good at giving family prayers to the _angel." _

Not only did Amina shoot him a look, but so did Polly. That move was the opposite of smooth. Now Amina squeezed his hand and he smiled. It was kind of a stupid, but she still appreciated it.

"Thank you, Angel," everyone bowed their heads and closed their eyes as soon as she started speaking. Everyone but Susie, that is. Amina wasn't going to bow her head but as soon as she made eye contact with Susie, she decided otherwise. Susie rolled her eyes at her again. "For this blessed meal… blessing us with…" Watson opened one eye to peak at her "your holy gaze… amen?"

Everyone had raised their heads and let go of hands. Except Susie who was already digging into her food. Hellyn coughed to make sure everyone knew her disapproval of the prayer. It was pretty bad after all. Amina was cringing at herself.

The rest of the dinner past by pretty slow much to her discomfort. No one was really talking except some humble chatter between Hellyn and Polly every so often. Amina only picked at her food, still wary about its taste. But she forced a few bites down to be polite.

She watched Susie shove plates upon plates of food down before finally leaning back and burping, making eye contact with Amina once again, winking at her. She was aware of the fact that this monster knew she was timid and was starting to play with her. Not good. She was already creeped out by the sly smile Susie wore all dinner.

It didn't matter. Everyone was about done now that the food was no more (thanks to Susie). Amina sighed, not being able to wait for when she could go back home to study astronomy and philosophy with Watson to see if anything about dimensions were in the books. And then she could sleep and have a break from this nightmare.

"Yo, mom," Susie demanded her attention, and she got everyone's to her delight. "I was thinking. Since you and Polly are having such a nice time chatting, why don't us kids hang out for a bit."

Oh no.

Polly frowned but Hellyn waved an assuring and approving hand. "It'd be good for you to socialize with others your age… for once." She turned to Polly and smiled "and I am just having a wonderful time speaking with you."

Polly smiled forcefully. "I-I suppose. My kids could get to know some more people. As well as Elijah." Polly reminded Amina of how she felt and acted. Unnerved and uncertain of Susie, but too afraid to say anything. She didn't blame her. She had more in common with certain monsters than first thought.

"We'll be fine, mom." Elijah assured. "Me and Susie are on good terms now."

She frowned slightly before returning to a soft, still forced, smile. "If you say so, Elijah. I trust you."

Oh, man. Amina was willing to walk home by herself at this point. If only she knew where the house was. She followed Watson with arms crossed as Susie gestured for them to follow. "The mansion is kinda lame. Want to hang in the backyard? It's just as nice as everything else is this shit hole."

*Not really.

Amina thought, but definitely wouldn't voice that.

"Yeah!" Elijah bounced up and down in excitement. "The pool out there looks so cool! I was looking at it before we hung out in the living room."

That's what they were doing before dinner? "Hanging out"?

"I dunno, Elijah…" Watson wasn't a fan of Susie either. It was the only comfort Amina had at the moment.

"Awww, c'mon guys! I know you think Susie is big and scary but she wouldn't hurt a fly."

Amina didn't know Susie, but that was bull crap. She practically pummeled his face in at the train station. And by the way Susie looked at both her and Watson, she guessed she low key wanted to pummel their faces too.

"Yeah," Susie responded, now looking straight at Watson and Amina, much to their displeasure. "I know I come off as intimidating and angry. But I changed over the years. Kinda." She shrugged, a hint of lies in her voice. "Instead of swimming, despite the little dude's excitement about that, I got some fireworks to light up if you're interested."

Watson was pretty confused at this point. "You… wanted to hang out with us just to light some fireworks?"

"Yep!" Elijah said for her. "She said we can swim after if we want!" He ran out the back door as everyone else followed him and pointed at the pool. "Look how clear it is! And it looks heated!"

"You want to swim in a heated pool in summer?" Watson questioned.

Susie tugged on the back of Elijah's shirt to get his attention while he waved off Watson's confused look. "Alright, loser. Go get the fireworks." She pointed toward the back shed on the other side of the large and very fancy looking yard, with the cleanly trimmed bushes and everything. "My mom keeps them behind the shed for the 4th of July."

Elijah gave her the "aye aye captain" gesture before starting to sprint to the shed.

Amina was no genius, but this whole thing was something more than a few kids setting off fireworks for fun. She wasn't sure what Susie was getting at, but it probably wasn't good and someone was _probably _going to get hurt.

"Hey," Amina nudged Watson, keeping her voice low, although it was clear she had Susie's full attention as well. That caused her to gulp. "I think I'm going to head inside to sit with… mom." Saying mom out loud felt weird, like she was betraying her own mother in some really weird way (whoever that was), but she couldn't just call her Polly in front of Susie.

Watson nodded toward her, with eyes that were debating coming with. Even if it meant leaving Elijah alone with Susie. But Susie laid a hand on Amina's shoulder before either she or Watson could walk off. Amina's heart dropped, and if her bladder was full she probably would have pissed herself. Pissing freaked monsters out too, so scaring Susie would be worth wet undies. That was a thought for another time.

"Alright, Amy. I know you're scared of me and all, and your face is pretty punchable. But beating you up isn't my goal right now. I got some cool fireworks and I want some other kids to blow them up with."

Amina didn't say anything while she shrugged off Susie's hand by stepping away. She didn't want to stay, but she also didn't want to upset Susie either. For multiple reasons. One being easy to guess. "Okay, I guess…"

Watson sighed a bit louder than he probably intended based off of how his eyes widened after the fact, but no one reacted. Unless Susie rolling her eyes counted.

"Here you go!" Elijah held up the box that had an assortment of fireworks in it toward Susie. He was quiet and had snuck up on the lot of them.

Susie gave a toothy grin and grabbed the box. "Now that's what I'm looking for." Her eyes lit up immediately when she grabbed a very large one. The kind that looked like it would be illegal in most states. "This is the one we're setting off."

"Are we setting off more?" But everyone ignored Elijah's question as Watson hesitantly spoke up.

"I don't think setting off that one is such a good idea. Is that even legal?"

"Psh, please. My mom knows people." She smirked as she pulled a lighter from her jacket pocket. Amina guessed she was a smoker. "You guys can grab whatever pussy fireworks you want, but this one is mine."

That meant she would take the fall if they got in trouble, right? Amina decided to not take any fireworks and just took a few steps back instead, observing whatever the hell Susie was doing. Her stomach sunk when Susie asked Elijah to help her set it up.

"Um… why don't we do some sparklers instead, Susie?" Watson voiced.

Elijah simply giggled. "Don't worry, me and Susie talked about this before dinner. It'll be fun!"

"And probably illegal."

"Get your undies out of your ass, dog boy." Susie snorted as she stood back up and wiped her hands. The firework was angled toward the house which raised multiple red flags.

Amina didn't want to speak up, but Watson wasn't saying anything. "Susie, maybe it'd be safer to angle it a bit higher."

"Nah I got it. Elijah, light it up." The lighter flew toward Elijah and clattered on the ground by his feet. He picked it up with a smile and lit the end of the firework on fire.

"Alright, run to the back of the yard!" Already bolting past the pool, Susie yelled. Watson and Elijah followed, Amina staying by the firework.

"Amina, what are you doing?!"

She looked at it for a moment, debating if she should put out the flame before it was to late. But looking at Susie across the yard convinced her otherwise. Illegal fireworks couldn't be that uncommon. She ran to join the others.

"Alright, guys. This is gonna be good." Susie clasped her hands together, waiting for the firework to go off. It reminded Amina of some sort of evil villain waiting for a bomb to-

**BOOM**

She wasn't watching the firework, being so focused on Susie, so she got quite the scare before watching Susie jump the back gate to run into the woods.

Wait…

"Hey, Amina…"

She looked where her brother was pointing.

"Susie just set the roof on fire."


	7. The Playground

Listening to a child sniffling on the other side of the wall was not the lullaby Amina expected to be falling asleep to that night. It would be expected for the universe to pull and uno reverse card on her so she was the sobbing mess instead of Elijah. But rather she kept repeating the events that had transpired throughout the day in her head. And the mess that had happened at Susie's mansion.

After Susie had jumped the gate and ran off into the woods, Elijah began crying uncontrollably, muttering something to himself about how he didn't think that the "prank" would be that intense. It was "just a prank, bro" to quote him word per word through handfuls of tears.

Once Hellyn had ran out along with Allie (er- Polly) and saw her pristine roof turning to ash, she went ape-shit, rightfully so. Susie must've done terrible things like that in the past because she started cursing her name immediately, not even questioning the lot of them. Polly tried to calm her down while she called the police. Everything else happened rather quickly. Firemen (firemonsters?) showed up to put the flames out and the roof luckily had minimal damage. "Minimal" meaning the house was still livable. They questioned Watson, Elijah, and herself about the events. Of course there stories all matched up, blaming Susie and telling the lovely tale about how she yeeted the fuck out of there after the firework hit the roof. But shockingly, Elijah admitted to taking part in the crime. Apparently he agreed with Susie beforehand to help her pull a prank, though he didn't specify why, but she never said they would set the roof on fire. The police didn't question him further, most likely because he was a mess of a monster on the ground. They dumbed it down to kids being easily manipulated and therefore he wasn't charged.

But he didn't escape Polly's wrath, hence the crying Amina had been listening to for the past few hours. She flipped on him so hard that both her and Watson had felt the impact. The gator monster did intimidate Amina, but she now knew that she was indeed one to be feared if pushed to a certain point. Her yell was absolutely _terrifying _and didn't make Amina feel any better about the situation she was in; being surrounded by "Polly's kind".

Polly had taken all of his electronics and swore to the angel above that he was grounded for the rest of summer. The rest was history.

The family had gotten in the car, Polly promising Hellyn that she would visit tomorrow and the police had begun to head out in different directions to search for Susie as they pulled out of the driveway to head home.

Tracing the stitched designs on her bed cover, Amina wondered what Susie's motivation behind setting her house on fire could be. It was pretty obvious Susie had some underlying issues now, but Amina knew she couldn't dig her nose any deeper. It wasn't any of her business. And it wasn't like she would find out anyway. She was going to get the hell out of this dimension as soon as possible.

One thing was for certain, however. Hellyn was a snobby nightmare. That probably had to do something with Susie's behavior. But seeing such a beautiful home be trashed hurt. It was like being loaded meant nothing to that dinosaur-monster-teen-thing. Being in a monster family would be a bit more bearable if they had a coffee table fish tank.

Amina grabbed the pillow below her head and put it over her face to drown out Elijah's cries (and hopefully her own thoughts). She couldn't stop thinking but she was so so tired and just wanted a break, if only for an hour. Being sucked into a dream of nothingness sounded rather intriguing. And a part of her hoped she would wake up back home with her memories and showing this whole thing to be a dream, proving one of her theories to be correct.

A few minutes had past, Elijah's crying had not died down but Amina finally felt her body begin to relax, her thoughts slowing down. But something in her chest began to feel heavier and heavier.

* * *

*12 hours prior*

Bushes suck. Specifically Azalea evergreen bushes. Most people don't know how prickly they are because why would they? _Most people _don't go hopping around in them. But Kris did, and he knew how badly they hurt. When he was younger he had come home bleeding all the time after the prickly edges basically impaled him. Especially when he would hide in them after school to scare Noelle.

Now he was in those exact same bushes for different reasons.

Across the street stood that suspicious bunny man. The one who had asked about Susie at the diner.

Spying was not on Kris' "to do" list that day; he had planned on drawing at the librarby for a few hours since Asriel was out hanging with his old friends, much to his dismay. He would've opted to come if it wasn't for the fact Catty was going to be there. After the incident where she had kissed Asriel… Kris ended up not really liking her. He didn't like to think of it much.

But on the way to the librarby to sulk and draw edgy dragons, Kris had spotted good old body guard bunny-man speaking to some Loox nearby Noelle's home.

He was bent over, leaning into the black BMW window where the Loox sat in the driver's seat.

Kris knew it was impossible to hear a word they were whispering to one another from where he was, but the back of his mind wouldn't allow him to ignore the monster completely. The guy had a weird demeanor about him as soon as he spoke to Asriel and him in the diner. The fact that he had mentioned the town of Seameet and Susie only made him more… intimidating? That wasn't the word Kris was looking for, but he couldn't think of anything else at the moment.

Maybe if he just sat there and observed the bunny guy long enough he could figure out what he was up to? Kris knew it was a stupid plan, but Susie was his only friend and the thought that she could be in danger horrified him, even if jumping to that conclusion so fast was a bit out there.

"K-Kris?" A feminine voice asked. "What are you doing in my bushes…?"

Kris turned to see Noelle staring at him with a confused (and somewhat scared) expression. Oh, angel above. She probably thought he was trying to pull one of his pranks on her again.

Noelle was carrying a single paper grocery bag. She probably was coming back from that new grocery store in town. What was it called? Sans'?

Kris couldn't remember. But he did remember that he hated that skeleton comedian.

"Oh, um," Kris spoke quietly under his breath. Noelle was nice, but still much of a stranger to him like everyone else in town. "I… don't know."

"You don't know?"

"No."

She looked across the street where Kris had nervously glanced at during the awkward exchange. "Oh. Are you curious about the new monsters in town? They're just visitors. My mom told me they're politicians from a few towns over. I think it's for a business meeting if I'm remembering correctly."

"What sort of business meeting?" Kris asked, ashamed that he was acting a bit flustered. The fact that Noelle had found him in her bushes would be embarrassing to think about for a while.

She scratched her antler. "I'm not sure. But their business suits look really professional and cool, don't they?"

"I guess so."

"Ha ha, you're funny, Kris."

The two of them jumped at the car revving as it sped off down the street. The bunny must've gotten in the car with the Loox during their short conversation. Kris couldn't help but be a bit upset that he didn't get to see the entire trade, even if he wouldn't have heard anything anyway. What if they left because they saw Noelle and himself?

"Ummm… so Susie left for the summer, right?"

"Yeah. She leaves every summer."

"Oh." She clutched the paper bag tighter while she looked down at her feet. "Do you want to hang out?"

Okay this was weird. Kris knew Noelle practically his whole life and not once had she invited him over casually. The only time he had been to her home was when Rudy had invited his family over for dinner or when Noelle offered to help him with homework out of the goodness in her heart.

"Why?"

Noelle began to blink a lot. Something Kris knew she did when she was very nervous. Usually during powerpoint presentations.

"Why? Oh- um- I mean…"

Kris decided it was a good time to step out of the bushes as Noelle continued to stumble over her words. Perhaps she was so nervous because he was creepily crouching in the bushes like a gremlin up until that point. However, he had a hunch that Noelle was still afraid of him as she was all humans. That was just a gander that nipped at the back of his mind. Kris never took the time to process whether or not that offended him. Probably not. Humans in history seemed like assholes to him.

Noelle found her words. "I… wanted to hang out with someone other than Berdly this summer."

That was fair but there was more to it than that. "Why me?"

"Because, um," Her voice lowered. "I figured you must be super cool if you managed to get on Susie's good side. Notthatyouwerentcoolbeforehaha."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

Kris shrugged before muttering a "We can hang out."

"R-really?"

It was a bad motive, but Kris' main reason for accepting Noelle's offer was because there was a chance he could find out more about those "politicians", even if he would more or less have to discreetly interrogate her for information she probably didn't have. Noelle had motives of her over after all.

"Yeah."

From a few blocks down, the Loox observed the two of them through a pair of binoculars, or rather, just a single binocular.

"Why'd you want to meet up with me in plain sight, Rys? Now the human's onto us. Idiot."

The large bunny monster turned to him, giving a sharp glare. "That's the point. The more paranoid he is, the more vulnerable he will be. Why else would I approach him in that low class diner?"

Suspicion spread across the Loox, similarly to a wave of shock. He scowled, shuffling around as he zoomed in on the human through the binocular. Why did the kid always hide his eyes? It was creepy. "Why make him paranoid? It's not like he was a threat to begin with. I swear, you don't think before you act."

"Perhaps. But you've seen what he is capable of. The more paranoid someone is, the more their defenses weaken unintentionally."

"You're full of shit."

"I've been doing this longer than you have, Ennis. I made this job all the more easier for you."

Sighing, Ennis lowered the binocular when the human and his deer friend turned the corner to go wherever teens go nowadays. A bowling alley or something? "You're taking on two tonight and you didn't have the time to make them "paranoid", asshole. What's your game with them?"

"Amina's already paranoid, Susie not so much. But everyone annoying her to such an extent works better than meer paranoia when it comes to that beast."

The car doors unlocked. "Nice chat, but I got a job to do and so do you. Why don't you get? Seameet is a ways from here, Rys."

"I'll get there in the AM's. Perfect timing."

The loox gestured for Rys to get out of the vehicle.

"Why don't you drive me to the train station first. Then I'll get off your skin."

* * *

The saying "an elephant sitting on your chest" is used when someone experiences sudden chest pain, but what Amina felt was much more than that. A sudden discomfort caused Amina to bolt upright in bed. It wasn't her heart, but something else throbbed inside of her, more so than when she drifted off to sleep not too long ago.

She grasped her chest, having trouble thinking straight.

Panic soon overpowered everything. What was going on with her? Was she dying?

Elijah's sobbing had ceased so there was nothing to cover up the sudden pained cry that left her.

5:00 AM, the clock read. Much too early for her to want to deal with the strange world she was in, or this torment she was experiencing.

She crumpled the cloth by her chest, the dress she hadn't changed out of after falling asleep, trying her best to stand. Her body, though hunched over, allowed her to take ragged steps toward the door. Amina didn't want to, but going to Allie was the only option right now. From what Watson had told her, some monsters had healing magic so the best she could for was Allie did. If healing magic worked for unknown pain that is.

Her ragged breaths became heavier, louder, as she closed in on the door. Voices were heard in the distance, sounding like they were downstairs.

A sudden pierce shot through her, like she was stabbed through the chest as soon as she touched the door handle. She flinched and let go, the pain decreasing to what it was prior.

It was time to test the waters.

Touching the golden handle again, the pain increased immediately and she stumbled backwards, letting out another cry She couldn't go through that door. It made no sense, but she wasn't strong enough to push through it. What was she supposed to do now? She could yell out in hopes that Polly could hear her from downstairs.

"M- mom…" Her voice had come out uneven, quiet and crisp. It felt as if her throat was beginning to cave in suddenly from forming a single word. Perhaps her throat was caving in when that thought flashed quickly in her mind. Her heart pounded faster as she coughed, wrapping her hands around her throat. Oh man, she didn't want to die like this. She had so much going for her. Kind of.

The rug was risen slightly and Amina tripped over the fold as she backed up, gasping. Her body took a fall, learching away from the door and smacking the hardwood. Air immediately filled her lungs again as soon as her body began to ache from the impact. But the fall gave Amina important information. As soon as she was away from the door, the pain lessened and she could breathe again. It was the door, wasn't it? This universe made less and less sense every moment. Her mood quickly became bitter. What could she have possibly done to deserve any of this? Memory wiped was bad enough. But pain caused from a door? Complete bullshit.

"Amina?" A voice called up the stairs. Sounded like Polly. "Are you alright, dear?"

No. No no. Amina had no desire for her help anymore now that she knew the cause of the pain. It felt like something of a nature unknown was telling her to leave the house. Why didn't matter because questioning things were starting to get tiring. She needed to get out and Polly wouldn't allow that to happen.

The wind outside caused a tree branch to tap the window. Amina looked behind her at it. Oh man. That was the only option.

Her hand helped get her back on her feet as her other still pushed on her chest. She groaned stumbling to the window. Thankfully it wasn't locked at the tree looked sturdy enough. It was a bit gusty out, but not enough to become an issue.

The window creaked loudly as she pushed it up. Must've not been open for awhile.

It was still hard to move but hopefully the further away she got the more it would subside. That's how it seemed to work.

The tree bark dug into her hand uncomfortable as she grasped it firmly. It was hard to pull her other hand away from her chest before she made it join the other. Grip firm, she wiggled her torso out and lifted her left leg onto the ledge of the window.

"Amina, what are you doing?!"

"Get back here!" Another voice shouter after Polly. Amina glanced back to see a horrifying monster. One with a scar across his face and a terrifying business suit. Funny a business suit could be classified as terrifying.

The surprise didn't help Amina's balance and she slipped out, falling face first into the ground below her.

* * *

_Creak _

_Creak_

_Creak _

_Creak_

The swing set was clearly worn out and past it's time. Rust covered most of the metal and it left an ugly color on Susie's hands when she held onto the chains. But she liked the abandoned playground. She had found it a few years ago when her mom really pissed her off. Now it was a habit to come here whenever she was uncomfortable or upset.

And after that night, she surely was.

Yeah. It was a stupid ass move to set her mom's roof on fire. Susie sometimes wondered if she was psychopathic. She didn't know the definition of that but that's what violent and crazy people were called.

She was probably going to end up that way (more so than she already was) if her behavior was escalating so badly.

Heh. She had tricked herself into thinking she was getting better when she was around Kris over the school year. Nah. She was the same.

Setting the roof on fire wasn't the original plan. The original plan was to cause so much noise her mom would throw a fit. But once pulling the firework out, something overtook her. Sure, she was living in that home, but seeing the look and horror on her mom's face when she saw her precious house being ruined would be worth it. And then she could be sent home for the summer.

But once she actually did it on impulse, fear came on with impulse too. The look on the other kids' faces made her think the consequences would be a lot worse than first thought and would definitely not be in her favor.

She pulled out her last cigarette from the pack she had stolen from the gas station back in Hometown a few days ago. Susie was saving it for such an occasion.

Damn. She probably wasn't going to get those letters from Kris and Noelle back now either. This whole situation was fucked up and stupid.

The lighter flickered as she held it up to her cig, about to light it. But movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention. Oh shit, the cops?

She dropped the cigarette, ready to bolt before realizing it wasn't a group of people, but a single person. Probably just a bum.

"Yo, fuck off. Playground's taken."

Now she was really peeved off. Her cigarette now had dirt all over it. Ugh. She would have it anyway but it was inconvenient as hell.

"...Can I join you?"

Susie glanced over to the bum.

Nope. Not a bum. It was that damn human. Annie or something. Either way, Susie was surprised by the state she was in. The girl looked like shit. Mud was on most of her dress and was wiped crudely off of her face. Her hair was disheveled and blood was leaking out of her nose, among other scratches on her face. Gross.

Susie raised a brow. She might've looked like shit but she probably was out of her mind too if she was asking to "join her" when she was terrified of her all night at dinner and nearly passed out when Susie set the roof on fire. "The hell happened to you?"

She stood there for a second before walking over to the swing, avoiding eye contact for the most part. "Stuff."

"Woooooow. How specific." Susie rolled her eyes, bringing the swing she was on to a halt. The creaking was getting a bit annoying. "Dog boy beat you up because you stole his textbook or something?"

Annie, or whatever her name was, sat on the swing beside Susie. "Sure. Let's go with that." Her tone had a bit of a bite.

"Oh? You shit your pants every time you're around me and now you have an attitude?" Susie shrugged when Annie didn't respond, and lit her cig. The smoke filling her was so good. She blew it back out into the chilled morning air. "Seriously though. You're all goody two shoes. You can't show up here looking like that and act all ominous and crap."

She wiped some of the blood off her face with her hand, leaving it smeared. "I fell out a window."

"And then came here instead of crying to your mommy?" Susie mockingly asked.

"I was thinking, when I was running here, that… there's an assassin after me."

"...what?"

"I woke up, feeling a sudden pain in my chest. And it got worse when I went closer to the bedroom door. So I figured I just needed to leave, you know? But as I was doing so, some guy entered the room with Polly, my apparent mother, to try to stop me." She paused to wipe more blood that was leaking from her nose. "The look in his eyes told me he knows more than he should. I slipped out and then just… ran."

Susie stared at her for a second to take all of that in. It was silent for another few seconds and as soon as Annie looked over to her, Susie burst out into a fit of laughter. "Oh my god. You totally lost it! Did the firework incident give you PTSD?"

Annie went back to staring forward. It started to become noticeable that her eyes were red and puffy. It looked like she was going to begin sobbing again or something.

"_Don't_ you start crying. I don't want to deal with that shit right now."

"No one fucking believes me!"

Susie stopped laughing. If goody two shoes was screaming and swearing she definitely was losing it. Maybe she should go smoke somewhere else.

"Watson says he does, but there's no way he means it. He's just being pity-nice. And now you think I've gone insane too. I fucking hate everything." She started giggling. "And now I'm actually turning to you like you can do anything."

Susie did something that surprised herself. She put out her unfinished smoke. "Yo, chill dude."

The sun was starting to rise and it was beginning to warm up a bit. Susie would've really like to soak up the sun if it wasn't for the crazy kid next to her.

"Let's say you aren't crazy. What makes you think an assassin would be after you? You do some sort of crime? Steal some gummy bears?"

She shook her head. "No. He knows I don't belong here."

"Of course you don't belong here. You're the only human in a town full of monsters. Doesn't mean there's a guy coming after you."

"That's not what I mean."

"Ugh," Susie ate the cigarette she had just put out. Annie didn't notice, and if she did, she didn't say anything. "I'm not going to help you with whatever cryptic nonsense you're going on about. So you can continue to sit here and cry like a baby or leave."

"I want to leave, because you're an asshole, but I'm too afraid to."

Damn. Susie thought she had the human figured out but she was all over the place now. She figured she was some kind of quiet outcast like Kris, but a tad more annoying, but now she was all… more unlikeable.

Susie began to swing very slightly again, feet still on the ground. "I'm not going to be your bodyguard."

"I don't expect you to. I just don't want to be alone right now."

A question was eating at the back of Susie's mind. She didn't want to act like she cared, because she didn't, but she was curious nonetheless. Cryptic people pissed her off. "What do you mean you don't belong here. Y'know, other than being the only human. Don't like your adoptive family or something?"

Annie began to swing slightly as well and changed the subject immediately. "Why'd you set the roof on fire?"

"Because I hate my mom like you obviously hate your adoptive family. Duh."

"I don't _hate _my family. They just make me uncomfortable."

Susie scoffed. "Tomato tomato."

A while had passed after that comment. Susie wasn't good with time, but she guessed it was almost 7 AM. At least a good 40 minutes sitting in silence with an insane weirdo. And Susie thought _she _was losing it.

She decided it was time to go chill somewhere else and stood up with no warning, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets. Before she turned to leave, Annie spoke up again.

"Before you go, I have a quick question."

Susie turned back to her with an annoyed face.

"This is going to sound weird, but do you believe in other dimensions?"

That struck something. She immediately started thinking of the dark world. Did the weirdo know something too? No. That'd be too weird, even for Annie.

Susie decided to be honest with her at a bad attempt at pity. "Yeah."

The human's eyes lit up and she turned her gaze to Susie with a confused expression. "You do?"

"Yeah. There's gotta be more out there." She turned around. "And with that, I'm peacing out. Bye, loser."

Annie shot up and grabbed Susie's shoulder. Susie immediately jumped away, taking all of her willpower to not beat up this bitch here and now. "What the FUCK do you think you're doing."

Turning her gaze to the forest surrounding the playground. Her voice hushed. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

A foreign voice spoke distantly in the forest. "Where ya at, kid?"


	8. The Assassin

Annie went pale and looked at Susie full of dread. "That has to be him." She whispered.

Susie was caught off guard, but she still didn't buy what Annie was saying about the whole "assassin"  
thing. That just sounded batshit crazy. "Your family probably just set him to look for you because you jumped out of a window like some sort of maniac."

"Who's there?" The man's voice was close, very close to the playground. By how quickly the footsteps were approaching, Susie guessed he would exit the forest soon.

Not wasting any time, Annie bolted toward the playset and dove underneath the slide area, begging Susie to follow with how dramatically she was waving her arms.

Yeah, no. Susie shoved her hands in her pockets and rolled her eyes. "Someone who wants to be left the hell alone." She kept her stance to look aggressive, but she was still afraid this "assassin" was actually a cop. There had to be _some _still searching for her from last night. Unless her mom just didn't give enough of a shit, which was a probability.

A monster entered the play area, smoothing out his suit. It was relieving that he wasn't a cop, but Susie could see why Annie was so terrified of him. He looked scary as all hell with that scar on his face and his larger stature. But, to put it simply, he was just a bunny monster in a damn suit. Susie chuckled lightly under her breath.

"Sorry," The man apologized. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"Well, ya did. If you don't mind, I'd like to go back to sulking on the swing."

He raised a brow. "Hm. Well, before I go, who were you speaking to just now, Susie?"

Her body stiffened. How did he know her name? She had never seen him in her life. In her peripheral vision, Susie could see Annie shaking her head "no" violently. Not being one to rat someone out, calling attention to Annie wasn't a preferred option. Another part of her figured it was the only option if it turned this guy's attention away from her. The fact he knew who she was was freaky enough in itself. Susie would gladly put Annie in danger before herself.

For now, Susie decided to form some kind of lie. She had plenty of experience in that field. If all else failed, Annie was right behind the slide as a scapegoat.

"Just ranting to myself." She shrugged. "I didn't think some weird asshole would be listening in on me though."

His expression stiffened. "That's fair I suppose." A hand hovered by his belt. "But I have another question, dear Susie. Where's the human?"

By the way bunny boy was standing, it was obvious he had some sort of weapon. Maybe the dude was a cop.

_Shit._

But Susie kept her expression neutral- more like annoyed and unintimidated. She still wasn't sure if she was ready to rat out Annie just yet. "Annie? Why the hell would I know."

"Her name is Amina." He corrected.

Susie wrinkled her nose. _Who fucking cares? Same thing._

"And I think you do know. I know a liar when I see one."

"And I know an asshole when I see one."

Her eyes followed his paw that was now closing in how his belt. She had to think of something good to say but options were little to none.

"She-"

The man raised his paw out to stop her from speaking, but he wasn't looking at her anymore. His eyes were on the ground.

At first, it was hard to tell what he was doing, but it dawned on Susie fairly quickly that he was looking at the footprints from where Amina had bolted toward the slide. He looked up, smirking at Susie, before drawing his weapon. And it indeed was a gun. Maybe the dude was an FBI agent? The hell did that moranic red head do?

The gun was now pointed at her.

_Is he after me too?! _She thought to herself, horrified.

"Come on out, Amina. Unless you want your pal here to get hurt."

"We aren't pals." Susie snapped. She was ignored nonetheless.

Amina could be seen in Susie's field of vision ever so slightly, though, her expression couldn't be seen. But it was clear she wasn't planning to move any time soon.

_Is that asshole actually going to let me get killed? That mother fucker!_

The gun clicked. He must've just turned the safety off. "Amina, I'm not messing around."

Susie gritted her teeth, sharply scolding through them. "Yeah. He isn't, asshole."

Amina bit her lip, blood still dripping from her nose and some of it even going into her mouth as she raised her arms in defeat, stepping out from the tiny playground she was using as cover. She looked like she was about to pass out, her knees shaking like leaves.

"A-are you going to kill me?" She managed to say through a whimper.

The monster immediately barked out a laugh, lowering the gun for just a moment from the meer baffling question. He raised it up again, dramatically wiping a fake tear from under his eye. "Me? Please, that's not my decision to make. As long as you surrender yourself, that is. And you did. So I say we're good here, yeah?"

"What'd she do?" Susie asked. It wasn't a good idea to demand answers from a man with a gun, but Susie couldn't help but desperately want an answer.

"The same thing as you." He stated coldly.

Susie gaped at him. "What?!"

He raised his paw out again to stop her. "Allow me to correct myself. Her offense was much worse. But same difference, eh?"

"Yeah, well, what the fuck did I do?"

"The same thing as her." He laughed as Susie fumed, knowing she wasn't going to get a straight answer from him. "Now." Lowering the gun, with safety still off, he put it back in his holster, keeping it open for quick access. "I hope you two understand I'm going to have to take you in."

"Take us in?!" Amina finally put her arms down and shook her head. "Susie was the one who set the house on fire, not me!"

"Fuck you!" Growling, Susie shot her a warning glare.

The bickering continued, rather, Susie continued to swear at Amina. The man took out bracelets. "This isn't about the house fire, girls. Now, if I may…"

Taking a step back, Amina pointed a shaky finger at them. "What are those?"

"Handcuffs."

Those weren't handcuffs. They were damn mental bracelets. Susie raised a brow. "Handcuffs? I've been arrested plenty of times to know what handcuffs look like, dumbass. What are they? Kinky sex bracelets?"

"Hmmm," He looked down at them. "Ah. I see. Silly me. I'll just show you how it works so you aren't confused." An unknown button on one of the bracelets clicked under his thumb, right before he tossed it toward Amina.

A second one followed it, as if pulled by a magnetic field behind. A light blue glow illuminated around each of them as Amina's eyes filled with panic. She didn't have the chance to move as the two "bracelets" latched onto her wrists at full force, sending her flying onto her back. They were separated at first, but soon, what seemed to still be a magnetic field, involuntarily made the two attach to one another. Her hands were now tied in front of her as she stayed on her back.

Now that Susie could see them a bit closer, the blue light seemed to have some electrical pulse thrashing around within. She didn't know how else to describe it. Amina struggled to get back onto her knees and winced when wood chips dug into her skin.

"What type of technology is this?" She questioned. Surprisingly, her voice was more steady, but not any less full of fear.

"Top of the line." The other cuffs attacked Susie without warning while he responded.

Susie now understood why Amina had fallen back so harshly. They were so heavy and shot onto her wrists at such a high speed. It was like they were attracted to her wrists like they were magnets too. It hurt and Susie did stumble backward, but she managed to hold her ground. She wasn't some 110 pound looking stick like the wimpy human beside her.

The gun was now drawn again. "There's trackers on those suckers so I wouldn't think about running." His other hand reached into his left pocket, pulling out what looked like a tiny remote. His eyes didn't sway from the two of them as he typed in a code without even having to look. While he was doing so, Susie noticed the wind in the area beginning to pick up speed. Not something that was extremely noticeable, but it was to her, oddly enough. And just like that, the wind died down again. A gust of wind had just flown by out of nowhere.

Susie soon realized that gust had a purpose. As soon as it passed by the man, his suit remaining pristine in the wind, a blue glow formed behind him in the gust. It was the same glow that was coming off of their handcuffs.

Electric pulses bounced off of one another, a 'pop' echoing through the air as a blue portal came into view. Nothing was visible on the other side.

_Am I tripping on something? _Susie wondered. Maybe she accidentally ingested something she wasn't supposed to. She did eat practically anything.

"In ya go." He gestured the gun toward the portal.

Amina gulped, eyeing Susie to get a quick read off of her. "In… there?"

Susie may have hated Amina, but in that moment she related to her. The two of them didn't want to go in there at-fucking-all.

"Yes, Sherlock, in there." He mocked. "Your head won't explode, promise."

"We aren't going in there alive." Taking caution to have extra bite in her words, Susie tried her best to come off as unafraid. Even though she had no idea what the hell was going on. It wasn't like Amina did either. "Go ahead and shoot us."

"No!" Amina took a step forward. "I'll go in, don't shoot me." Her words were quick and desperate.

_Pussy._

The man grinned. "It'd be wise to follow your friend, Susie."

"She's not my friend." Susie looked down in defeat. "But- Goddamnit, fine. I'll follow. Only because I'm smart enough to know we're gonna die either way. Doesn't matter which way we go out."

Amina gave her a concerned look before the monster shoved her (very harshly) into the portal and proceeded to turn to Susie. "You're next, cupcake."


	9. Kris' Troubles

"No pie for breakfast, Kris."

Shoot. Sneaking pie at 5:30 wasn't early enough to avoid his early bird mother. _Should've known. _

"You are up early, are you not?"

Kris planned on going back to sleep after sneaking a piece of pie but he wasn't going to tell his mother that. She was proud of him every time he woke up early. He didn't want to see the disappointed look in her eyes if he was truthful in saying he wanted to sleep until noon. Kris just nodded.

Toriel smiled. "Would you like me to make you a _healthy _breakfast?" She knew Kris was hungry so she continued without him answering. "How would you like your eggs?"

He thought for a moment. "Scrambled, please."

He sat down on the oversized chair at the dining table as he patiently watched his mother take out a cooking pan. But he wasn't paying attention to her, the Loox and that weird bunny wouldn't leave his mind. It ate away at him, more so than his grumbling stomach.

He wasn't able to get anymore information from the timid reindeer girl yesterday and when he had told Susie about it earlier, she didn't seem to care much. Scratch that, she seemed a _little _concerned, but not concerned enough. Maybe he should've been more urgent about it over the phone? It was his fault for hanging up so soon because he was so eager to go to the movies with his brother.

For now, however, he wanted to focus on what he would do today if he saw the Loox and/or the bunny man. It was unlikely he would be able to get close enough to them to hear any of their conversations, and that was only if he caught them together. Maybe he could ask Noelle to speak with them more about what they were doing in town since she thought they were so cool with their business suits and all.

Who was he kidding? Noelle was way too timid. He would have to do something himself.

...but there was no way he was going to approach them either.

Maybe Asriel could-

_No!_ Kris cut his internal thoughts off. _I'm not putting him in danger. _

"Here you are, my child." His caring mother set down a steaming plate of scrambled eggs and wheat toast in front of him. She sat down next to him with eggs and toast of her own, as well as placing butter in front of the two of them. "Don't you put too much of that on your toast. It's not good for you."

Kris nodded again as he reached over for it.

"You know," She continued as he spread more butter than she would've preferred on his wheat toast. "I am just so proud of you. I could not be happier that you are opening up to other people this year."

Kris unintentionally scrunched up his face. He hated when she brought this up. Whether she noticed his expression or not, she didn't say anything.

It was no lie he was being more social this year because of Susie. And he was always very talkative around Asriel. Not to mention being around Asriel helped him speak with other people because it was like his brother was emergency back up. But that didn't mean he was willing to open up to everyone around town. Talking to Noelle yesterday was very painful, but he was so desperate to get information about the two mysterious "businessmen" that he powered through it.

Now his mother was getting the wrong idea. He didn't want her to think he was changing for good. That would just disappoint everybody. He was starting to worry that Asriel was getting the wrong idea as well.

Kris would talk to him about it later.

"On the way back from the store, Catty's father told me that you were hanging out with Noelle yesterday. What did the two of you do?" She smiled warmly as she asked.

Everyone in this small town couldn't mind their own business.

"It was good." He lied. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good. "We just hung out by the lake for a bit." And that they did. And boy oh boy was it awkward. It was mainly silence between them. Noelle asking questions about Susie every once in a while, and him countering with his own questions about the businessmen. The two of them had separate goals for the hangout and the two of them did not meet either.

Noelle was sweet, but he was very confused about her fascination for Susie. Maybe she liked her? Like… "liked liked" her? _...oh. _

Toriel clasped her hands together. "How wonderful. Noelle is just a sweet young lady. I hope the two of you hang out more this summer, she's a wonderful influence."

Ouch. Did his mother think he needed a good influence?

He nodded his reply once again.

"What are your plans for today?"

Shrugging, Kris finished his meal and reached for his orange juice. "I'm not sure. I'll ask Asriel what he wants to do when he wakes up." The fact early bird Asriel wasn't awake yet was surprising. He would be up any minute by now. The sun rising at 6 am was his personal alarm clock.

"Perhaps you should invite Noelle to hang with the two of you? Don't tell her I said this, but I have a feeling she doesn't enjoy hanging around your other classmate much."

Kris knew she was referring to Berdly. Based on the conversation he heard between Noelle and her father awhile back, she surely did not enjoy Berdly's company.

"I dunno." His answer was honest. Noelle hanging with Asriel and himself felt like a bit of an invasion.

A large paw landed on his shoulder, the weight causing him to slump sideways a tad. "Do me a favor, won't you? Noelle enjoys your company. It would be very nice of you to invite her out with you and Asriel."

Knowing Toriel as well as a son could meant he knew that tone of voice. It was more of a demand rather than a polite request. He held back a groan. "Alright." But anxiety started to build up in his chest now that realization dawned on him about her crush on Susie.

He was stupid to not have noticed it sooner.

"Good morning, Asriel. Kris and I just finished our breakfast, would you like me to make you some."

Asriel wiped his eyes as he entered the room. "No, it's alright. I plan on just having cereal."

"If you say so." Toriel collected Kris' dishes along with her own and headed over to sink to begin rinsing them. She patted Asriel on the shoulder as she walked by. "What do you and Kris plan on doing today."

Kris noticed the look on Asriel's face when he realized the only cereal they had was Bran Flakes. He took it anyway. "Oh, well BP really wants Kris to come fishing with us. He called it 'bro time'." He laughed after that. "I know it's a stupid name, but that's BP for you. What do you say, Kris?"

Kris raised a brow. "BP?" He asked. Asriel was here so Kris was in the mood to talk.

"Burger Pants."

"Oh." Kris frowned, not because that new acronym was stupid, but because yesterday Asriel was hanging with friends as well. "BP" was alright, he supposed, compared to Asriel's other friends (like Catty and Bratty). He sometimes gave him free pizza… but Kris still didn't like hanging with him either. He felt out of place.

Kris wanted to hang out with Asriel alone, like they did the other day.

"It'll be fun, promise." Asriel reassured with a soft smile. He sounded apologetic with his offer. He probably knew how Kris felt.

Shaking his head, Kris tried to respond confidently. "No, it's fine. You need time to catch up with Burger Pants." That didn't sound too confident.

But Asriel beamed. "Wow, that's really mature of you Kris."

He must've sounded confident enough if Asriel trusted him.

Toriel, on the other hand, wasn't quite as convinced. Kris may have fooled her into thinking he was more social, but he couldn't fool over all the time. His life wasn't that big of a lie.

Or maybe it was and his mother just knew Burger Pants freaked him out. Burger Pants freaked a lot of people out.

She raised a brow at him. "If you say so, Kris. I think it would still be a good idea to ask Noelle if she would like to do something with you."

Kris nodded and excused himself to go take a morning shower.

* * *

"Coming!"

Noelle's hooves clicked loudly on the hardwood floor as she scattered to the front door. She wanted to seem as punctual and polite to visitors as possible. When Kris had called this morning asking if she wanted to "hang out", she was rather caught in surprise. Their hang out yesterday was uncomfortable for the both of them, she wasn't stupid.

She wanted information on Susie which she didn't acquire for _whatever reason_, and he wanted information on the businessmen for _whatever reason _which she couldn't give. Even if she wanted to, she didn't know anything about them. His interest in them was almost as confusing as the fact he wanted to hang out today.

Kris was only open with Asriel, and as of this year, Susie. Was he really trying to get closer to her? Or was it just for the reason she believed it to be. _The businessmen. _

That was most likely the reason. Noelle decided to not be offended, Kris was just weird like that it seemed. She'd take his company over Berdly anyday. And she had to give Kris credit, him showing up prior to 11 was rather polite of him, especially when he barely made it to class on time during the school year.

An uncomfortably fake smile strained on her face, her cheeks starting to tickle just a bit, as she opened the door. "H-hi, Kris. I appreciate you asking me to hang-"

"Oh, I'm very sorry. I see you were expecting someone else." The loox, one of the businessmen, stood on the other side of the door. His smile was almost as fake as her own.

Noelle kept her strained smile, to be well mannered as per usual. "It's alright," She said. "If- if you're looking for my mom, she's still at work for the day. I'm sure she's willing to put aside her other meetings for you." She assumed he was a man of high standing so her mom would definitely suck up.

The loox shook his head. "No worries. Your mother is meeting me here after her current meeting."

A strange feeling began to stir in her stomach. "Oh okay. Um- do you want to come in?" Noelle offered. She really didn't feel like hosting a guest, especially an intimidating adult while she was waiting for Kris. _Be well mannered, civil, and polite._ She repeated in her head. _Mom will thank you for it later._

"That would be nice. Thank you…"

"Noelle."

"Thank you, Noelle." He nodded in appreciation as she stepped aside, allowing him to enter. The loox strutted in, the fake smile on his face changing to one of intrigue. "You have a very nice home."

Noelle's chest became tight, joining her uncomfortable stomach. She didn't like being viewed as a rich spoiled brat. The size and quality of their home was the first thing everyone noticed when they visited for the first time. Her awkward smile stretched. "Thank you, um, yeah… it's nice."

"Very nice."

"Yep."

"Uh-huh."

"..."

"..."

If it was genetically possible for Noelle to sweat, she would be. "Would you like some tea or some coffee?"

"Hm?" The loox turned his attention to her in a hurry. He must've drifted away in thought for a moment. "Oh, coffee would be nice, thank you."

Noelle waited for him to continue. He picked up on that.

"Black is fine."

She nodded and headed to the kitchen to begin the brew. To her discomfort, he followed closely behind her. She would've preferred if he just went to the living room or stayed in the foyer, but that wouldn't be being a good houseguest. She could keep a better eye on him this way, she supposed.

Luckily he decided to sit at the kitchen table instead of standing beside her.

The conversation didn't continue. Instead of starting it up again, anxiety induced Noelle decided to nervously stare at the brewing coffee. Angel willing, her mother would be home soon to end her misery. Or even Kris. She just didn't want to be alone with him anymore and she just begged for the feeling in her stomach to vanish.

"When do you, uh, think my mom will be done with her meeting?" Noelle decided to ask regrettably. How would he know?

Before he could answer, which he probably wouldn't based on his deep-in-thought mixed with confused expression, the doorbell rang.

Kris. Thank goodness.

"Thatsmyfriendsoillberightback." Noelle frantically spat out as she made a b-line for the kitchen exit. Again, the loox did not reply. She didn't care about keeping an eye on him anymore. That goal was only there to make her feel better.

Sure enough, Kris was waiting patiently on the other side of the door. His face was blank but changed to a fake smile (like everyone else's today) as the door opened. "Hi, Noelle." He greeted softly.

"Hi, Kris!" She waved him in. "Um, I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but whatever you want to do today will have to stay on hold for a bit."

He raised a brow at her, hinting at her to continue.

"I currently have a guest over waiting for my mom, but I'm sure she'll be home soon so we'll only have to wait for a bit."

A guest? _Great. _Kris thought, but he said the opposite. "I don't mind. I didn't really have a plan on what to do anyway so I can think about it while we wait." He wasn't going to think about it. Noelle could decide. She probably just wanted to sniff flowers and talk about Susie.

"The guest is…" Noelle suddenly realized this was going to oddly peak Kris' interest. "One of the businessmen. The loox. Maybe you can talk to him since you're so fascinated with him?" That sounded rude too, didn't it?

Off-puttingly, Kris frowned.

"Oh… I thought you would be interested in speaking to him. I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "It's fine."

Noelle left for the kitchen once again, Kris following behind as she expected.

"Y'know," He started. "I wouldn't mind talking to him for a bit." Kris _really _didn't want to. Whichever businessman it was, he was convinced they must've been dangerous. But this was his only chance to get information on behalf of Susie. He had to do it for Susie. Even if he would die doing so, but that was a great stretch, even he knew that. A stupid stretch.

Noelle smiled. "Oh okay!" She piped up. Kris wasn't aware, but Noelle was ecstatic he was willing to converse with the loox. That way he could keep him occupied while waiting for her mother, rather than herself. She really needed release from the feeling turned painful in her chest and stomach and maybe this way she could find some relief from the anxiety build up.

She gestured to the loox as they walked into the kitchen. "Kris, this is…" Oh wow, she didn't know his name.

"Ennis." He generously answered.

This "Ennis" guy smirked while he mentally took notes of Kris' expression. He probably was expecting his partner in crime rather than himself.

"You must be Kris."

The human didn't miss a beat in responding. "How'd you know that?" His tone was full of fear, despite his efforts in trying to cover it up. Ennis had plenty of experiencing picking up on peoples' emotions and Kris' monotone voice was wavering ever so slightly. The kid was skillful enough to trick the average person on what he was feeling, but he wasn't discreet enough for Ennis.

Ennis chuckled. "Calm down, _Kris. _It's hard to not overhear residents talking about the only human in town. You may have grown up here, but you come up in conversations more than you think." That was a lie, he already knew everything about Kris before he even showed up to Hometown. It was just another tactic to make him paranoid about those around him. That and Kris' expressions were very entertaining to observe.

Needless to say, Ennis needed to stop toying and get down to business now that the kid was in a closed, private setting with himself. The girl was there too, but at the end of the day she was just a tiny monster that couldn't ever be considered a threat.

"While we're waiting for your mother, Noelle," The girl nodded to acknowledge Ennis. "Why don't we get to know each other a bit?"

"Um, s-sure." Noelle glanced at Kris nervously, who seemed to stiffen. He didn't seem to notice her concerned glance. Her mother really needed to hurry up.

Leaning forward on the table, Ennis smiled and looked Kris in the eyes. Where is assumed they were, ignoring the mess of hair covering most of his face. "When I was a young man in college, I was really into astronomy and natural resources. I ended up dropping out, but a lot of what I studied stuck with me. Hell, I think my interest in it is what led me to meet Rys. Befriending him is what led me to my current career so having weird hobbies tend to pay off, don't you think?"

Kris tilted in his head. Wherever he was going with this didn't feel right, but he was interested nonetheless. Perhaps Noelle felt the same way because she stayed silent as well.

"I wasn't so much into the proven, set and stone science in astronomy and natural resources, but rather the profound theories. That's what led my mother to stop paying for my tuition. She claimed I couldn't get a career studying such things." He chuckled. "Are you two into that sort of thing? The weird and strange in science that just can't be proven. Or just isn't known to the public."

Noelle looked at Kris once again with a confused look. Kris' expression remained neutral as he shook his "no" head toward the loox.

She put a hoof on her chin, thinking deeply on what he meant. "Well, I'm not sure." She wasn't sure where Ennis was going with this either. "I do enjoy academics, but I don't study theories. I'm more of the type to study Shakespeare."

"Human novels. Interesting." He leaned in further, uncomfortably. "You don't seem like the type to be into that, but I suppose I was wrong."

"Well…" She began to dwindle her hooves together. "I think all literature is important no matter who wrote it."

"The doesn't that mean all science is important?"

"O-of course! I never said that! But theories aren't 'set and stone' science, like you said."

"Gravity is but a theory, you know. Everyone believes in it despite that. You studied it in school, didn't you?"

She nodded her head and it was Kris' turn to look at her with slight concern. But his hair hid his knitted together eyebrows as per usual.

"What- what theories are you so interested in?" Noelle squeaked out.

"Ah, yes. I was straying away from the root of the conversation as I usually do. It may be strange, but I find the concept of other dimensions very intriguing. One reality seems a bit ridiculous. Same as us being the only life in the entire universe with millions and millions of galaxies out there. I believe that there are more realities that keep this one in tact. As if there is a balance between realities. The same amount of each on either side of the scale. I met a man not too long ago that was speaking to me about the reality scale just as I am to you. And we started discussing what would happen if one hops to another reality on the other side of the scale. Would it cause some sort of butterfly effect, would things stay the same, or would everything fall apart?"

"That's rather interesting."

Ennis picked up on Noelle's terrible lie but moved passed it. He wasn't trying to convince them after all. He was just trying to get to a point. With Kris.

"Enough of my rambling. What do you two think about such a theory? A deep conversation such as this seems to pass time well."

Kris realized the question was intensely directed toward him if Ennis' harsh stare was anything to go by. His nails dug into the palm of his hand in a sorry attempt to calm his nerves. It wasn't working, but he didn't stop. The terrible feeling he had grew. Kris was no genius, but _maybe _the two "businessmen" were onto something when it came to the Dark World. That could be considered another dimension couldn't it? Is that what Ennis wanted Kris to connect this conversation with?

What if "Rys" was looking for Susie because of that…

...and what if Ennis had already found his target?

_Oh no. _

Kris couldn't convince himself that theory was far fetched. It made too much sense for this conversation. He may not be able to dig himself out of this, but he had to try. For Susie's sake. Maybe he could make the two of them look less suspicious somehow.

"I mean no offense," Kris began, professionally at that. He was walking on eggshells here. "But a theory like that… seems a bit odd. If there are other realities, it would be bound to overlap with someone at some point right? And if the scale is so sensitive when realities are combined then the universe would have gone into chaos a long time ago."

"Perhaps you're right. But maybe it's happened tons of times and someone has figured out how to stop it."

Kris bit his bottom lip. It seemed he was still onto him. "If there's someone out there figuring it out and preventing it from everyday people, like us," He quickly added. "Then it doesn't need to be worried about, right?" Man, he just could not be convincing today.

"Maybe we aren't the everyday people." A gun was pulled out, pointed directly at Kris' head. How did he hide that so easily?

Noelle screeched, jumping back. "Don't move, deer girl." Ennis didn't even need to look at her to scare her into staying still. The gun could turn to her direction easily and she knew that. She was fast but not that fast. "Everyday people like you are what cause the chaos, and everyday people like me need to stop it. Get my drift?"

Kris could only frown. This all happened too quickly.


	10. Bang of the Gavel

-Sometime in the Past-

Amina _really _liked anime. Especially the kind where the protagonist had a tragic backstory. Examples being Attack on Titan, Madoka Magica, Death Parade, so on and so forth. Being in 10th grade, at her weeaboo prime, it was her dream to live through such a hero's journey. To be a lone protagonist called to adventure to fight against evil and alongside allies.

But now that Amina stood alone in grief, mourning over her family amongst flames and blood, she realized that having her life match the one of a tragic, yet action packed, anime wasn't exactly what she wanted.

Before jumping into the portal before her, she looked back at what was lost and pressed the button.

Commander Euric stood from a distance, watching the girl with grinded gears. There was nothing more he could do. He failed because of some _pimple-faced weeaboo. _

"Retreat!" He shouted.

His men stood behind him dumbfoundedly.

"I said, RETREAT!"

* * *

Amina laid a hand over her aching head as she propped herself up against the metal wall. Her neck was stiff from lying unconscious on the cold floor for who knows how long.

That vision she just had (or dream) had a portal that looked exactly like the one she had just gone through.

Was that a lost memory of hers?

For one, and only time, figuring out who she was was less important. For now she had to figure out where she was before anything else. Her surroundings didn't tell her much, however. It was just a bland, all metal room. One wall was pure, thick glass that showed the hallway. But there wasn't anything out there, nor was there any door that led out to it.

Maybe she was in a sort of prison or quarantine? If that was the case, it couldn't have hurt them to have at least included a bed.

There was something on the other side of the hallway. It was another room, just like the one she was currently being held in. Sadly, there wasn't anyone in there to accompany her in this sort of hell. A part of Amina wished it was Susie, but it was probably for the best it wasn't. The two of them didn't seem to be getting along that well and Amina feared Susie would blame her for whatever was going on.

She wouldn't be wrong though. That fact scared Amina even more than the thought of Susie's anger.

But Susie apparently did something that made her a target as well, right?

Despite that, Amina wasn't an asshole and hoped Susie at the very least managed to escape from that bunny dude. She didn't know what happened to her after she, herself, caved in at gunpoint and was shoved into the portal before the monster.

Who knew she was such a wimp.

Shaking off those thoughts, Amina took note of the single camera in the corner of the room, pointed directly at her. She didn't stare at it for long, fearing she made awkward eye contact with whoever was definitely watching from the other side.

"Amina. That's your name, right?" A voice spoke out from speakers Amina couldn't see. It was female, but staticy. It seemed out of place for such an advanced looking place to have a low quality speaker.

Oh god. Maybe looking at the camera triggered the lady to speak up.

"Yes." Amina responded, quietly.

"Pardon?"

Amina gulped before raising her voice. "Yes!"

She heard scribbling from the other side. The lady was taking furious notes. "From now on you will be referred to as Subject 572. Understood, 572?"

_What?_ Amina chose not to respond.

"I said, 'Understood, 572'?" The lady's voice rose in aggression.

"I understand."

More notes were taken. "Good. The guards outside your cell will escort you to the courtroom."

_The guards outside my- _

A part of the glass slid open and 2 guards, 1 from either side of the wall, stepped into her vision. How long have they been standing there just out of her sight?

Their features were unknown. Futuristic armor covering them and all.

Scratch that, Not futuristic. Definitely old timey. Medieval perhaps? But being in such an odd place made them appear futuristic nonetheless. Amina didn't really know how else to describe it to herself. It didn't matter. The only thing that needed to be said was that they weren't human based on their body types. She was once again in an odd one out situation.

She couldn't believe she was thinking this, but she really missed being the odd one out with Watson and Elijah. The situation she was in had gotten so much worse.

She hoped they were doing okay and weren't involved with this either.

The two guards held larger guns. They seemed super advanced as well, unlike a gun she had ever seen. Not even like the gun the bunny monster had.

They weren't pointed at her, but one of the guards made a point to cock it. "Come with us, 572.." He commanded. It was sort of hard to hear him behind the mask, but Amina understood him well enough.

She wasn't idiot enough to argue and followed, ending up being sandwiched between the two of them. One of them leading and the other keeping close eyes on her from behind.

As the long (metal like everything else) hallway stretched on, a window came into view as the three passed by.

Getting a bit claustrophobic in a closed off environment, Amina looked out to get just a second of refreshing daylight. Or maybe even a starry night sky.

Her mouth went dry. She was met with many many stars, indeed. Along with beautiful colors of star dusted clouds. It was breathtaking, but very bad. There was no ground. For all she knew, it looked like they were floating in the midst of space.

"W-where are we?" Her weak voice muttered.

The only response she got was a shove in the back from the gun. She stumbled forward but continued walking. That pain in her chest, the one she felt before she was forced to jump out the window, began to grow. It nipped inside of her. It was dull, but it wasn't going away anytime soon.

The situation was getting more out of control by the second.

* * *

"Subject 573, what do you plead?"

"Plead for fucking what?! I didn't do SHIT!"

The jury gasped at the sudden language from Susie. They should get used to it.

Susie, with handcuffs on, stood in front of a judge in the very middle of a courtroom. It looked exactly like the kind you see in shows. The only difference being the jury and judge were very very high up on, as strange as it sounded, levitating tables. But they weren't floating up and down like Susie would have imagined. They were completely still as if held up by an invisible force.

It was also important to mention that the jury, along with the judge, were made up by species of monsters Susie had never seen before. As well as a few robots. The judge himself was a robot for Angel's sake.

Now Susie was aware that robots were created for ghost monsters before, but her gut told her this was a different type of situation. It seemed like some sci-fi type shit.

The bunny man stood alone below the jury. Susie didn't exactly know why he was there. He already completed his mission of fucking her over, hadn't he? Man, she hated him. Almost as much as she hated Amina. It was her fault for getting Susie caught for whatever she did. Amina was the one that drew attention to Susie in the first place. That dude probably would have never shown up to Seameet if it wasn't for that stupid human.

The judge scowled and boomed. "Innocent or guilty?"

"For. What?"

"Your honor, I'd like to plead innocent on behalf of my client." A robot, which Susie believed was female based on her voice, spoke beside her. Susie didn't know who she was, but based on the fact she was defending her meant she very well may be her lawyer. It was odd that Susie hadn't even gotten to speak to her before the trial. It seemed very uncourt like. It's not like any of this made sense to Susie though. She didn't care. This woman was defending her and that's what mattered.

"Yeah! I plead innocent to all of this bullshit!"

His 'honor' landed his fist on the desk, looking back at the robot lawyer. "How can she plead innocent if she doesn't even know what she did?" Rude. Apparently he wasn't even willing to directly talk to Susie herself and instead talk through her lawyer.

Her lawyer frowned, giving Susie the side eye before clearing her throat to prepare herself for whatever defense she was scheming. "Isn't it obvious my client has amnesia? She isn't in the right state of mind to plead at the moment. I will solely be speaking for her based on the evidence collected. Her words should not be taken into consideration for this sentence."

Jotting down notes, the judge looked at the jury, raising a brow. They all seemed to nod.

Susie was no expert but she was pretty sure real courts didn't work that way. Wouldn't there have to be a doctor or something? Whatever. If it was going to get her off the hook, it would get her off the hook for whatever she _didn't_ do. She wasn't sure if her lawyer actually believed she had amnesia or not but either way it worked in Susie's benefit.

"Very well." He hummed. "Why do you claim Subject 573 is innocent?"

The robot's eyes widened. She immediately went to look through the small binder she held. Her frantic look made whatever hope Susie was holding onto vanish. Did she really not know what she was doing? "Because, umm, because…" She trailed off before stopping at a certain page inside. "The DNA collected at the scene could not be distinguished."

"It was a 60 percent match-"

"Yes. But not 100 percent confirmed. The DNA found was 6 days old. It could have been contaminated enough that the reader was mislead."

"That's only because monster DNA is harder to read due to it dusting. Naturally it mixes with other things in the environment. How could natural products mixing in the environment match Subject 573's DNA by 60% in dimension 62-B? Your argument makes no sense."

The jury began to murmur to one another after the judge finished his rant.

Susie's lawyer stayed silent.

_-Well, fuck._

"If you have nothing else to say," The judge raised his gavel "I sentence you, Subject 573, also known as 'Susie', to life in prison for the crime 285, Illegal Dimension Hopping." And with that he brought the gavel down.

_-WHAT THE FUCK_


End file.
